The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated physician interest in participating in the healthcare gig economy.
Gig workers are independent contractors who work for one or a variety of employers instead of a long term full time contract with a single company.
There are many reasons why the numbers of 1099 docs are growing. They include:
- Dissatisfaction with the practice of medicine
- Concerns about personal and family safety
- Generational attitudes
- Job insecurity, furloughs and layoffs
- The desire to expand impact and change a dysfunctional system
- Income threats and inequalities
- Family obligations and caregiving requirements
- Gender and racial inequalities and obligations and other aspects of the dark underbelly of medicine
- Burnout, disability, divorce, illness, or disciplinary actions
- Inability for international medical graduates to get a US state medical license or those who have stopped practicing for a while to re-enter the clinical workforce.
While the opportunities to contribute value to patients and other healthcare system stakeholders in non-clinical careers is big, there are potential hurdles and gaffes you can make too. Common ones are:
- Not having the knowledge, skills, attitudes and competencies to add value in your chosen gig
- Having unrealistic expectations about income potential and benefits
- Ignoring blind spots and not acknowledging that you don't know what you don't know
- Not following a plan to secure a job as a physician advisor, consultant of chief medical officer in a company.
- Not understanding the difference between a doctor and a physician entrepreneur
- Picking the wrong spot to play
- Confusing the clinical mindset with the entrepreneurial mindset
- Making rookie mindset mistakes
- Engaging coaches with marginal qualifications or hiring one when you are not ready to be coached
- Quitting your day job too early
Making a career pivot will take rethinking your education and finding resources, networks, mentors, experience, peer support and the proper non-clinical career guidance. Failure to do so might result in grumpiness recidivism.
![Grumpy_Doctor.png](/images/jch-optimize/ng/images_Grumpy__Doctor.webp)
Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs
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