Zach Powell, an anesthesiology resident at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, entered medical school in 2012, just two years after the Affordable Care Act was signed into law.
“At that time, there was constant talk of how the health-care business model is going to be changed and different reimbursements for doctors,” said Powell, who graduated with an MD/MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2017. “That was a big part of the impetus’’ for his decision to get both degrees.
Still Sell It
Powell realized the difference between the two types of education on his first day at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, when a colleague pitched him a wearable heart monitor. He told the student getting funding and regulatory approval for such a device was a decade-long challenge.
While acknowledging it might not be purely useful, the student replied, “but you could definitely still sell it”.
American doctors earn a lot by global standards. Comparisons are difficult and there’s limited data, but most studies put the U.S. at or near the top of the international league when it comes to physician pay. The median pay for American physicians and surgeons was $208,000 last year or about $100 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
And, while more medical students are entering MBA programs, many still decide to pursue residency. But their business-school background can set them up for an additional venture on the side. Powell said his long-term goal is to split his time working in both private practice and medical consulting.
The number of dual degree graduates, while growing, is still a small portion of the overall medical school cohort. Some colleges have 2 or 3 students in each class. The University of California at Irvine has a relatively large group of MD/MBAs, which typically make up about 20% of the class, Chandler said.
“These people are working really hard, and I think they’re going to change medicine someday,” Chandler said. “There are just not enough of them out there.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.