Can doctors have a side hustle?

Pre-Med & Medical School Careers in Medicine
1

I was wondering, let’s say someone did a lot of pharmaceutical research in their undergrad years and they were also interested in finance. Then they go onto med school and end up getting an MD in cardiology and an MBA.

If that doctor is employed by a hospital, then would they have the time and/or flexibility to pursue an advisory or consulting role at a pharma company (idk what these roles are formally called; basically someone who provides insight to the company in a particular department such as drug development or clinical testing)?

A surgeon probably won’t have that kind of time, but would a physician? Basically what I’m trying to ask is, “does working in a hospital come with a rigid, inflexible schedule, or does a doctor get time to pursue their other interests as a side career?” Examples would be awesome if you have any.

2

Let start of by correcting some of misunderstandings. You don’t get a MD in cardiology. You get a MD, then you do 3- 7 of residency to become a specialist, then another 1-5 years of fellowship to become a sub-specialist. Cardiology is a sub-specialty that requires a 3 year IM residency followed by a 3 year cardiology fellowship.

So that 4 years of med school followed by 6 years of residency & fellowship (where you’re not especially well paid and med school loans are busily compounding interest), plus another 2 years to earn a MBA (on your own dime). You’re talking about 12 years of post college training before you can even start your “side hustle.”

Residents and fellows will simply not have any free time to consult. (Plus it’s a contract violation that can get an individual fired. And fired means you may not qualify for a medical license and won’t be able to work as a physician. And even if you can get a medical license, not finishing residency means you’re only job options are wound care at nursing homes, an urgent care doc in a box, prison doctor, or doing physicals for insurance companies. Because no specialty board certification means neither medicare nor private insurance companies will reimburse you for services rendered.)

It depends on the terms of their employment contract.

Most doctors do not work directly for hospitals–outside of a few academic faculty. Doctors may work for a large group practice/HMO–like Kaiser where they are employee owners. Or they may work for a democratic, independent small group practice (where after a trial period of 2-5 years as a contracted junior member they buy into the practice and become part owners) who contract their services to a particular hospital or group of hospitals, They work as direct salaried employees for a healthcare corporation which owns the hospital or a group of hospitals. They work as contract employees for healthcare corporation that sells their services to a hospital or group of hospitals. Or they can be a locum tenens (temporary) employee for a healthcare corporation who in turns sells their services to a hospital or clinic. Or they can be tenured faculty at an academic hospital associated with a medical school.

If your contract include productivity goals (and almost all of them do), then you may not have the time or flexibility to take on outside work.

Consulting for clinical trial and drug development typically is more common for academic faculty at major university hospitals. And drug development is almost solely the purview of MD/PhDs at academic hospitals. But while you may earn some consulting $$$, academic physicians have significantly lower salaries than do privately employed physicians.

I worked for a small non-profit medical research organization that, among other things, ran clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies. We employed a few doctors (probably 3 or 4) who did nothing but oversee clinical trails, but most of the employees were PhDs, MD/PhDs or DVM/PhDs who did full time basic medical research including drug development.

3

BTW, I have to say that the idea of young, newbie physician fresh out of residency/fellowship who only has years-out-of-date undergrad pharma research experience being paid to consult amused me. Never gonna happen.

If you want to be a consultant, you first need a national/international reputation as an expert in a particular topic. That only comes after many, many years of experience and research in the field.


You asked about side hustles---I did know one doctor who worked as expert witness for medical malpractice/personal injury cases. He was paid a standard per diem for each day he had to appear at the trial. He used his vacation days whenever he had to appear in court.
4

Many doctors have side hustles. I believe that it is more common now than 20 years ago when I got into medicine. A colleague of mine had 2 side hustles within a year of completing residency. They are providing him safety from his main practice if things were to change abruptly.

I would remind you that medical education and training is a grueling process such that most graduates want to earn money in their field as soon as possible. Usually, a side hustle is FAR from their minds. However, the business of medicine is a constantly evolving environment leading to a very high burnout rate. A side hustle quickly becomes an escape plan.

The notion that many surgeons are too busy to have side hustles is not true. Many surgeons have side hustles that pay in excess of their practices. Go to the CMS Open Payments website and search physicians in your area or just list them by the payments they received from certain side hustles. Sometimes, I find it hard not to be jealous.

5

Drug development i.e. finding the chemical molecules is a different profession. One probably needs a Pharm. D or Ph.D in some closely related field. A Ph.D and MBA can take up to 5-7 years on top of MD/Residency/Fellowship training.

6

Dr Robin Cook had a good one. Writing bestsellers and movies. Like Coma and Contagion or Outbreak. I cant recall. Etc.

7

MD here.

First, if you are already thinking about your ‘side hustle’, then please don’t waste a spot in a US med school. There will be a huge shortage of MDs able to care for the aging US population in the next few decades. Leave that med school seat for someone who actually wants to dedicate their life to caring for patients.

Second, if your plan is to use an MD degree as a steppingstone to get rich, it’s a pretty dumb one. While med school will cost you hundred of thousands for tuition alone, the opportunity costs of 4 years of medical school + 3 (minimum, could be up to 6) years of residency + likely 3 years or more of subspecialty training are even worse.

(p.s: surgeons are also physicians)