List- Ridiculously High income doctors

[Harmonica Man]

Just saw this on Crain's.  The 2017 incomes of the highest paid doctors in NY (or at least those who are employed by a non-profit).

What gives...how do you make $3M? Yea, I know, I know- probably 50,000+ docs in the state, and comparison is the thief of joy, but ************************ this makes me feel like a slouch

 

TOP-PAID DOCTORS
TOTAL CASH COMP. OTHER
RANK NAME/TITLE HOSPITAL/SYSTEM FROM ORG./FROM RELATED ORGS. COMP.
David Samadi, M.D. Lenox Hill Hospital $6,793,426 $58,123 1 chair, urology $6,793,426/$0
Joseph Levine, M.D. St. Francis Hospital $6,421,284 $44,457 2 chief, electrophysiology $6,421,284/$0
Richard Shlofmitz, M.D. St. Francis Hospital $4,523,903 $42,979 3 chair, cardiology $4,523,903/$0
Sathish Subbaiah, M.D. St. Charles Hospital $4,054,986 $23,449 4 chief, neurosurgical $4,054,986/$0
spine surgery
Morgan Chen, M.D. St. Charles Hospital $3,840,001 $54,861 5 chief, orthopedic spine surgery $3,840,001/$0
Frank Schwab, M.D. Hospital for Special Surgery $3,820,321 $58,408 6 chief, spine service $3,820,321/$0
Mark Urken, M.D. Beth Israel Medical Center $3,526,026 $51,557 7 chief, head and neck $3,526,026/$0
surgical oncology
Han Jo Kim, M.D. Hospital for Special Surgery $3,513,618 $50,062 8 orthopedic surgeon $3,513,618/$0
Robert Michler, M.D. Monteore Medical Center $3,505,333 $43,538 9 chair, cardiothoracic and $3,505,333/$0
vascular surgery
Jacob Shani, M.D. Maimonides Medical Center $3,499,544 $39,342 10 chair, cardiology $3,499,544/$0
Sheeraz Qureshi Hospital for Special Surgery $3,236,769 $46,902 11 associate attending $3,236,769/$0
orthopedic surgeon
Mark Bilsky, M.D. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center $3,209,703 $367,921 12 neurosurgeon $3,209,703/$0
Eugene Krauss, M.D. North Shore University Hospital $3,007,574 $48,848 13 director, orthopedic surgery $3,007,574/$0
Lyle Leipziger, M.D. Long Island Jewish Medical Center $2,961,345 $58,123 14 chief, division of $2,961,345/$0
plastic surgery
Bernard Bochner, M.D. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center $2,842,055 $70,417 15 chair, surgery $2,842,055/$0
Philip Gutin, M.D.1 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center $2,828,868 $57,489 16 chair, neurosurgery $2,828,868/$0
Hedvig Hricak, M.D. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center $2,520,184 $93,569 17 chair, radiology $2,520,184/$0
Neil Tanna, M.D. Long Island Jewish Medical Center $2,479,400 $58,081 18 chief, plastic surgery $2,479,400/$0

Angelo Reppucci, M.D. Long Island Jewish Medical Center $2,342,416 $58,081 20 co-director, practice site $2,342,416/$0
George Petrossian, M.D. St. Francis Hospital $2,311,249 $51,840 21 director, interventional $2,311,249/$0
cardiovascular procedures
Mark Sultan, M.D. Beth Israel Medical Center $2,298,573 $15,188 22 chief, plastic and $2,298,573/$0
reconstructive surgery
Varinder Singh, M.D. Lenox Hill Hospital $2,265,476 $58,123 23 chair, cardiovascular $2,265,476/$0
medicine
David Langer, M.D. Lenox Hill Hospital $2,218,652 $58,123 24 chair, neurosugery $2,218,652/$0
Samuel Scheinerman, M.D. Lenox Hill Hospital $2,143,860 $48,848 25 chair, cardiovascular and $2,143,860/$0
thoracic surgery

[VagabondMD]

I only recognize one name on the list (Hricak), and I met her when I interviewed for residency at UCSF. She must be in her late 60’s or even 70 by now and has been a high power academic radiologist for at least 30 years.

None of these docs are paid for their RVU production or clinical work. They are paid for their leadership and executive roles, for hiring and retaining talent, for star power, for name recognition, and other intangibles. It is expensive to live well in NYC (I am sitting in a hotel room in Manhattan as I type this!), so physician leaders get paid more than in other parts of the country.

Occasionally, there are threads from aspiring docs along the lines of “should I go to the more expensive MD school or the state DO school?”, and often there is some contention whether or not it matters. Well, if you count the DOs on the list in the OP, it looks like it sure matters if you want a multimillion dollar salary in NYC!

[Zaphod]

Imagine many are paid like Vagabond says, in addition to clinical they get executive pay, most of these are directors/chiefs, etc...and I'd guess some of these also have IP or other kind of shared income arrangements as well. These 'salaries' likely also include executive level retirement and health benefits which can be worth a lot. Obviously theyre still taking home a good chunk of change.

Looks like the top guy on the list has got into trouble for running too many rooms in the past.

[bean1970]

I'm not well versed in all the first names, but is there a single female on this list????

[Peds]

well we know what sloan kettering is doing with their MDs....

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/13/health/jose-baselga-cancer-memorial-sloan-kettering.html

[VagabondMD]

@bean1970, Hricak is a woman (Scandinavian roots, IIRC)

[Tim]

“or at least those who are employed by a non-profit”

The list shows compensation only. A non-profit has three primary sources of revenue.
Collections on Billings, Charitable Donations, Grants (both government and private).
It would be interesting to see how these tracked with each one. I would think the results in all three areas were factored in the compensation. If a real estate agent gets 3% or 6% commission , what % should one make on $30mm? Just saying, value is not just wRvu’s. Big dogs take business with them.

[CrockettsRiver]

$2.5 mill doesn't go very far in NYC.  It won't even buy you that house in the Hamptons

There is insane income disparity in every field, including medicine.  When I think of what the folks on that list had to do to get there - the competition, the hours - I wouldn't change places with them.

[Kamban]

Peds wrote:

well we know what sloan kettering is doing with their MDs….

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/13/health/jose-baselga-cancer-memorial-sloan-kettering.html

Click to expand...

It has not made one difference to his financial health. Three months later he is employed as head of Research at Astra Zeneca's cancer research unit. He likely is being paid far more than what MSKCC was paying him.

https://www.propublica.org/article/astrazeneca-hires-dr-jose-baselga

These top dogs never lose in any scandal.

[SerrateAndDominate]

Kamban wrote:

 

These top dogs never lose in any scandal.

Click to expand...

This is very sad but very true

[Tim]

“These top dogs never lose in any scandal.”

It’s possible that the only change bank account the payroll deposit was coming from. He may have to wait to recover excess FICA and Medicare withholdings.

Same office, same staff, same research. Problem solved.
One deposit instead of two.

[Brains428]

I wonder what some of the physician administrators at the for profit DO schools make.

[PHANTASOS]

Manhattan has a lot of MDs who don’t take any kind of “health insurance.” If you run a cash only practice, which people flock to from all over the world (Russian oligarchs, oil sheikhs, various royalty from around the world, New York trust fund babies, hedge fund managers, heirs to the greatest fortunes ever made in our country, etc..), if you run such a cash-only practice you can make that kind of money through your clinical work. It usually requires having an important title at a place like sloan-Kettering or the Hospital for special surgery.

[Craigy]

Neurosurg can make seven figures easy.

I have seen some pain docs bring in pretty solid seven figures.

But as others said above, a lot of that list looks like big hospital admin.

[jz]

……..and now compare with the nonclinical administrators of those hospitals.