Simply Worth It: Physician Negotiations with Dr. Linda Street

As female physicians, we are battling systemic barriers that collectively keep us from earning millions more, but there are also factors we have a lot of control over.    Confusion is one of them.    We all know that sitting in confusion is not helpful, but we do it anyway, and set ourselves back significantly in the negotiating process. An energy and mindset of confusion is not where we need to b...

If we don't know what we're up against in the negotiation process, we can't strategize a path to a package that reflects our worth.     We need to be able to go to bat for ourselves, and that's difficult to do when the biggest obstacle is what we believe about ourselves.    How do you go from worrying that you don't offer enough to feeling like you do? How do seemingly benign beliefs cascade into...

Saying yes to everything is a seemingly harmless act and the default response we've been conditioned to give, but does it actually serve us? When I look at this issue through the lens of physicians in the workforce, I can see the negative effects.    Most of us struggle to say no to things that don't align with us and this is evident in the alarming levels of physician burnout we're seeing.    As...

Group negotiations are something we're starting to see more of in the post-2020 healthcare landscape.    While it presents a whole new layer of complexity for physicians, negotiating as a collective can actually work in our favor. It's still possible for us to negotiate contracts that reflect what we're worth, and we can even achieve wins for entire departments and specialties.    This doesn't hap...

We spend a lot of time on the specifics of our contracts, but today we're going to pivot and focus on the reason behind our negotiating efforts - the personal priorities that drive our decisions.     In the negotiating process, we really have the opportunity to tweak our schedules so they work for us, our families and our spouses. Sometimes it feels like the job invades every part of our lives, an...

Most high achievers were raised to believe that hard work will always get rewarded. This belief is untrue and harmful, and the root of the burnout and overworking culture in medicine.    We carry the belief that being tired all the time is the price we pay for success and excellence. We put ourselves under pressure to do it all, and work jobs that weren't even designed with our wellbeing in mind. ...

A growing number of women have moved into the breadwinner role in their households, but very few are prepared for what it entails. As a result, we struggle to make financial choices that position us for the lives that we want.     The subconscious belief that we would never be main earners impacts some of the most professionally successful women. If we don't understand how critical it is to build...

Understanding the other side of a negotiation is important in our ability to present our value, and come to an agreement that serves both parties. But there's one part of a physician contract that does no favors for a physician, and that's non-compete clauses.    A non-compete is nothing more than a greed-based legal clause that at best guilts you to stay in a job, and at the very worst keeps you...

The law states that male and female physicians should be earning the same, but time and time again, the data has proven that this is not the case. Unfair pay structures and circumstances impact female doctors, and they all add up to an uphill battle for equal pay.  It's not just that female physicians are earning less generally.  The specialties we dominate are paid less. We are funneled away from...

In the negotiation process, we have to advocate for ourselves and work towards signing a contract that aligns with our goals and our worth. Every contract is going to be different, but there are key common areas that we, as physicians, often overlook to our own detriment.  There are big areas where there's room for negotiation at best, and at worst, variability that might not benefit us.   It's al...

Physician burnout is a huge topic in our industry. It's compromising the health of doctors, driving attrition, and costing billions in lost productivity. A good career in medicine cannot be built with the fear of falling apart, and we need to protect ourselves. Most conversations about burnout are centered on what physicians should be doing to take care of their health, but there's another approac...

Understanding the factors that determine how much we get paid is one of the most important steps in negotiating effectively and getting paid what we're worth.    In 2021, the new Medicare guidelines are set to impact how much some physicians are going to earn, and for many of us, fair market valuations are going to be used to adjust our packages.   Yet, fair market value is a term that's so ambigu...

Your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) is one of the most powerful ways to strengthen your starting position in a negotiation. It's a lens through which we can clearly and confidently assess every package to make sure we're making the best decision according to what matters to us.    When you have a great alternative to the offer that's in front of you, you negotiate and present y...

On January 1st, new Medicare guidelines for physician earnings were introduced, and this is set to impact our contracts in a multitude of ways. Many physicians are going to see either a significant increase in their earnings or a substantial drop.    Because of potential impact on revenue many hospital systems are either unilaterally staying or requiring addendums to stay on the 2020 rvu values fo...

Imposter syndrome is a common problem for female physicians, and a huge barrier to successfully negotiating what we're worth. When we can't see past our own self-doubt, we amp up the difficulty of what we're trying to accomplish.    We have to examine how imposter syndrome is showing up for us, or else we'll sabotage the negotiation and even the entire trajectory of our careers.    What are the mo...

In the process of negotiating a package that reflects your worth and value, there are 3 things that matter - mindset, market and make it happen .    Step 3 is where the magic comes together. This is where we do the work to make a  successful negotiation happen, and empower you to have an impactful conversation that puts you in a better position.   We look at all the possible roadblocks and hurdles...

The 3-step process for navigating a physician compensation agreement is mindset, market, and making it happen.    Let's talk about the market piece and how it impacts your negotiations. There's actually a wide variety of pay scales and many different variables that play into it.    This is why we need to do our homework.    Market data gives us an idea of how much people are willing to pay for our...

Many physicians do not believe that being paid their worth is possible in corporate medicine today.    But a lot is at stake if we don't take the time to optimize our potential and negotiate a contract that reflects the value we have to offer. Physicians are highly intelligent and well-qualified people. Any time we feel like we're undervalued, that we have no autonomy, sense of control, or that we...