Thick skin is essential. Compensation is more than money. Although the average earning power of physicians and senior health care executives is not so different, the method of payment certainly is. Their annual earnings reflect how many patients they see efficiently in a year's time, not how many return to health. However, executive compensation is more long-term and related to success, although the results may not be known for months or years.
New stresses come with the job.
As executives, they will experience other kinds of stressful situations, often caused by leading lengthy decision-making processes to influence and persuade others. Unlike a physician, whose key decisions involve diagnosing and treating patients, an executive faces problems that often have no single right answer. The physician executive position was once considered to be a step toward retirement, but not today. Assuming that you have not been deterred by the previous caveats, take a look at the many options. Diverse opportunities for physicians include both traditional and cutting-edge situations.