INTERVENTIONAL CARDIOLOGIST SALARIES
There was God, then man made religions and now men fight between religions over the same God. Similarly - There was Medicine, then docs made 'specialties' and now docs fight over the same 'medicine' in between specialties - LOL ! No I am not losing it - just bringing an important reality issue to the fore. What I am getting at here is the turf-wars between Interventional Cardiologist and Interventional Radiologists: To Whom does the right to do procedures like Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA) belong ? - The Cardiologists claim the Radiologists are not clinical enough for the procedures, while the radiologists say they invented it and and the cardiologists are not fluoroscopic enough ;-) And then, of course, we have the vascular surgeons, who would also like to stake a claim too !
Hmmm...And why fight over these 'rights' ? Coz' that's very much the future of medicine /surgery they yeah - anybody's guess, these procedures pay big money ! Click here for an amusing and interesting article that actually lays down a plan to help Radiologists dominate their claim in the interventional arena !
Getting back on track - For all practical purposes, when you hear someone say, "Interventional Cardiologist" it usually refers to a medical-cardiologist trained in Radiological interventions, while an "Interventional Radiologist" would mean a Radiologist training in clinical radiological interventions. Actually, it's more like Interventional Cardiovascular Medicine and as University of California, San Diego defines it, "The specialty of Interventional Cardiovascular Medicine involves the use of a variety of non-surgical techniques to open blocked or clogged arteries"
Following are how the salaries look for an Interventional Cardiologist in the USA, as compiled from various sources:
The starting salaries are often above $250,000/- to $300,000/- a year in base-pay and can rise to $400,000/- a year as 3 to 5 years of experience years pile up. Many places offer "partnership" deals for candidates after working with the group for two or more years with greater profit-sharing - In such business partnerships, aggressive, hardworking and business-savvy Interventional Cardiologists are known to earn $700,000/ to $800,000/- a year !
As more real-world samples, do check out some compensation packages offered on job postings listed here.
There was this job-post for an Interventional Cardiologist I read for a hospital in the Midwest: "$375,000 to $425,000 first year salary - based on experience - $525,000 + potential as a partner - Ten (10) weeks of vacation as a partner as well and get home for dinner!" LOL
Indeed a 2003 - 2004 MGMA survey showed that most interventional cardiologist did work about a median of 46 weeks a year in such partnership deals.
Q. How to become an Interventional Cardiologist in the USA ?
A. Most fellowship programs in Interventional Cardiology are 1 or 2-year programs and will need the incoming candidates to have completed a three-year cardiology fellowship after a three-year residency in Internal Medicine. (Thus they are PGY7 and PGY8 Programs) Here's a sample program to look at. And here's another one. So, on the average it will take about 15 to 16 years for an American Medical Graduate ( 4 years of Pre-med, 4 years of Medical School, 3 years of Residency, 3 years of Basic Cardiology Fellowship and 1 to 2 years of Interventional Cardiology Fellowship) to become an Interventional Cardiologist!!
Salaries, or rather the stipends during Fellowship training range from $55,000/- to $65,000/- a year depending on the program location.
- Funky Road Signs for Cardiologist Homes
- Get your 'Future Cardiologist' T-Shirts
Search keywords to this blog article:
- "interventional cardiology payscales"
- "how much money does an interventional cardiologist make"
- "interventional cardiologist night call pay"
Hmmm...And why fight over these 'rights' ? Coz' that's very much the future of medicine /surgery they yeah - anybody's guess, these procedures pay big money ! Click here for an amusing and interesting article that actually lays down a plan to help Radiologists dominate their claim in the interventional arena !
Getting back on track - For all practical purposes, when you hear someone say, "Interventional Cardiologist" it usually refers to a medical-cardiologist trained in Radiological interventions, while an "Interventional Radiologist" would mean a Radiologist training in clinical radiological interventions. Actually, it's more like Interventional Cardiovascular Medicine and as University of California, San Diego defines it, "The specialty of Interventional Cardiovascular Medicine involves the use of a variety of non-surgical techniques to open blocked or clogged arteries"
Following are how the salaries look for an Interventional Cardiologist in the USA, as compiled from various sources:
The starting salaries are often above $250,000/- to $300,000/- a year in base-pay and can rise to $400,000/- a year as 3 to 5 years of experience years pile up. Many places offer "partnership" deals for candidates after working with the group for two or more years with greater profit-sharing - In such business partnerships, aggressive, hardworking and business-savvy Interventional Cardiologists are known to earn $700,000/ to $800,000/- a year !
As more real-world samples, do check out some compensation packages offered on job postings listed here.
There was this job-post for an Interventional Cardiologist I read for a hospital in the Midwest: "$375,000 to $425,000 first year salary - based on experience - $525,000 + potential as a partner - Ten (10) weeks of vacation as a partner as well and get home for dinner!" LOL
Indeed a 2003 - 2004 MGMA survey showed that most interventional cardiologist did work about a median of 46 weeks a year in such partnership deals.
Q. How to become an Interventional Cardiologist in the USA ?
A. Most fellowship programs in Interventional Cardiology are 1 or 2-year programs and will need the incoming candidates to have completed a three-year cardiology fellowship after a three-year residency in Internal Medicine. (Thus they are PGY7 and PGY8 Programs) Here's a sample program to look at. And here's another one. So, on the average it will take about 15 to 16 years for an American Medical Graduate ( 4 years of Pre-med, 4 years of Medical School, 3 years of Residency, 3 years of Basic Cardiology Fellowship and 1 to 2 years of Interventional Cardiology Fellowship) to become an Interventional Cardiologist!!
Salaries, or rather the stipends during Fellowship training range from $55,000/- to $65,000/- a year depending on the program location.
- Funky Road Signs for Cardiologist Homes
- Get your 'Future Cardiologist' T-Shirts
Search keywords to this blog article:
- "interventional cardiology payscales"
- "how much money does an interventional cardiologist make"
- "interventional cardiologist night call pay"
Labels: Cardiologist, Cardiology
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posted by Digitaldoc, MD at 4:21 PM
Comments on "INTERVENTIONAL CARDIOLOGIST SALARIES"
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Anonymous said ... (5/02/2009) :
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Anonymous said ... (5/17/2009) :
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Anonymous said ... (7/31/2009) :
Post Your Comment !I am an interventional cardiologist, and I have never run across a radiologist who is vying to take on cardiologists to take over coronary interventions. That is different when it comes to peripheral arterial interventions (carotids, legs, aorta, renal arteries). I know such radiologists exist that want to take it away (and some that actually do coronary interventions, I think), but there is not much impetus. I don't think any vascular surgeons are trying to take this away (coronary), but some cardiothoracic surgeons are.
Just an FYI!
@the int cards poster just above - what does the turf war look like, going forward, for the peripheral vasculature? How about for aortic valve replacement, for that matter?
I think cardiologists have the stronghold in the battle for coronary interventions. They are the ones who refer cardiac patients to cardiothoracic surgeons. No other specialty (other than cardiothoracic surgery) gets the training required to care for cardiac patients. The biggest threat to the field in my eyes is from radiology. As CT/MRI gets more precise in the imaging of the heart and coronary arteries, the need for diagnositic coronary angiography could go down. I am not sure how much a cardiologists salary/satisfaction depends on angiography but it seems the field is diversified enough that this would not be a major deal.