Psychiatric Compensation Survey 2011

by Stuart Gitlow | March 18, 2012 9:52 PM EDT

I'm puzzled by the compensation survey:

1) In asking as to how the economic recession impacted practice, there was no option to indicate that it led to an increase in income. I generally have found over the past 20 years that patients are increasingly likely to seek psychiatric help during economically troubled times. My practice income therefore inversely reflects the overall economy. The worse the recession, the better my practice is from a revenue-only perspective. Peers tell me that this is true for them as well. I can see where employed physicians might have the opposite response, but for those of us in private practice, bad times aren't so bad.

2) In the question as to how one would describe their overall financial viability, there was no option that would allow one to choose "Move from employed practice to self-employment." Given that those of us in private practice appear to be on the upper end of the income spectrum indicated in Q1, and given our relative immunity to economic recessions, I'm puzzled as to why an increasing number of psychiatrists are not choosing private practice.

Are newly-trained psychiatrists being taught how to run their own practice anymore? Or is it simply assumed that they are only seeking a 40-hour work week, three weeks of vacation time, and health insurance? I can't tell you how many times over the years I've had to teach a young psychiatrist the obvious - if you make more in private practice, you can buy your own health insurance and still come out way ahead.