Saturday Morning Rounds July 18, 2020 - How to help MS4s during COVID & talking about money during your interview

Posted by BossB, MD on July 18, 2020
BossB, MD

Saturday Morning Rounds

A weekly round-up of career & negotiation content for women physicians

What got our attention

As we mentioned last week, a lot of our time and attention right now is being directed toward helping MS4s with the residency interview and match process - particularly helping them to know how they should adjust their approach in light of COVID-19.

To do so, we've created a quick (<5min) survey for program directors that will help to provide some clarity around:

  • What changes programs are making in their process because of COVID-19
  • What's staying the same
  • How med students should adjust their approach this year

If you're a program director, PLEASE take this survey. If you know a program director, PLEASE forward this to them.

Every medical student we've spoken to feels incredibly uncertain and "in the dark" about what to expect this year. If we can get enough responses to this survey to actually provide some clarity, it will make a huge difference.

Obviously, we will make whatever results we receive from this available to anyone who wants to see them, free of charge. We will also scrub the responses of any identifiable information so as to protect the privacy of respondents and their programs.

Who we're following 

One of our favorite Tweeps, Dr. Kemi Doll, MD MS (@KemiDoll) JUST GOT PUBLISHED IN THE NEJM 🙌👏🎉

What's more, the paper - "Structural Solutions for the Rarest of the Rare — Underrepresented-Minority Faculty in Medical Subspecialties":

  • Got desk rejected twice before being accepted
  • Strikes a perfect balance between telling a powerful story and providing concrete recommendations for action
  • Was written & accepted in December before this issue got a lot of the attention it currently has

Dr. Doll has been on a helluva roll lately, and if you're not following her yet, you should be.

BBMD tip of the week

We had a call with a client this week who is about to interview for partner in her private practice. She's been employed by them over the last 2 years, and during that period she has:
  • Built her practice up from nothing with very little support
  • Made them 2x more money than they paid her
  • NEVER SEEN THE FINANCIALS
If your jaw is not currently on the floor from reading that last point, it should be.
 
One of the biggest red flags we highlight in our curriculum is if a private practice won't show you their books. This creates an incredibly lopsided power dynamic, takes away your ability to build a profitable practice, and most importantly hides from you the essential knowledge of whether they're running a solvent business.
And if you're in academics or are hospital-employed and thinking this doesn't apply to you, think again.
 
You don't need to self-teach an MBA curriculum overnight, but you should always understand the basics of how your employer makes money, how you'll fit into that equation, and what you can do to ensure that you're getting a piece of any profit you generate. Here are a few tips on how to do so:
  • Private Practice - During the interview and well before you even consider an offer, ask to "see the books" and have their accountant + business manager walk you through everything thoroughly (esp % of revenue that goes to overhead and how overhead is distributed)
  • Hospital/Academic - During the interview and well before you even consider an offer, ask "how does this institution make money?" - spend time with the administrators to fully understand where funding comes from and how you as an individual physician will engage with that system
  • Ask, "if I generate a profit for the institution, where does that money go?" - there should be some financial incentive for you to do so and this is often a place where you can negotiate some huge pay increases for yourself because it's a no-risk situation for the institution (they're already in the green) 
Quote we're contemplating
“Money is the opposite of the weather. Nobody talks about it, but everybody does something about it.” – Rebecca Johnson

 

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PPS - As always, please let us know your requests and suggestions by replying to this email (we read 'em all) or getting at us via Twitter. Which section above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Just send a tweet to @BossB_MD and put #SaturdayMorningRounds in there so we can find it.

Have a wonderful weekend, y'all!