Thirty-nine percent of physicians have side hustles, according to Medscape's 2023 "Physician Side Gigs Report," published Oct. 12.
Here are five key notes on physician side gigs to know:
1. Why physicians are pursuing side gigs:
- Earn extra money: 53%
- Purely for fun: 10%
- Use/develop skills: 10%
- Build a second career for medical retirement: 4%
- Pursue a hobby or talent that may become my main career: 4%
- Pay off my student loans: 2%
- Other: 7%
2. The 10 most popular medical side gigs
- Medical consulting: 25%
- Expert witness: 18%
- Medical moonlighting: 17%
- Chart review: 15%
- Speaking engagements: 14%
- Telemedicine: 12%
- Healthcare startup: 4%
- Medical device development: 4%
- Medical spa work: 4%
- Mental health counseling/therapy: 3%
3. Physicians earn on average $34,000 a year from their side hustles – with male physicians earning $40,000 and female physicians earning $26,000.
4. The percentage of physicians who take on side gigs per specialty:
- Allergy and immunology: 42 percent
- Anesthesiology: 35 percent
- Cardiology: 35 percent
- Critical care: 53 percent
- Dermatology: 35 percent
- Diabetes and endocrinology: 45 percent
- Emergency medicine: 53 percent
- Family medicine: 34 percent
- Gastroenterology: 32 percent
- General surgery: 38 percent
- HIV/Infectious diseases: 54 percent
- Internal medicine: 61 percent
- Nephrology: 37 percent
- Neurology: 43 percent
- OB-GYN: 38 percent
- Oncology: 35 percent
- Ophthalmology: 31 percent
- Orthopedics: 41 percent
- Otolaryngology: 33 percent
- Pathology and lab medicine: 29 percent
- Pediatrics: 33 percent
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation: 42 percent
- Plastic surgery: 21 percent
- Psychiatry: 36 percent
- Public health: 33 percent
- Pulmonary medicine: 53 percent
- Radiology: 37 percent
- Rheumatology: 46 percent
- Urology: 36 percent
5. Here's what a leader said about the factors driving physicians to pursue side gigs: "The decision of physicians to engage in a side gig to supplement their income is obviously a personal decision and could result from a variety of factors. One example could be the amount of debt from their undergraduate and medical school educations, such as when post-graduate medical resident physicians engage in medical moonlighting opportunities (when legal, of course). Another reason could be the need to meet the basic cost of living in one's particular region of the country where they have been hired (or chosen) to establish their practice. Still, others may choose to simply have additional income for their hobbies, vacations, and/or other personal interests, investment opportunities, or philanthropic and community projects they desire to be a part of or contribute to." –Todd Harburn, DO. Orthopedic Sports Medicine Surgery Specialist in Mackinaw City, Mich.