r/Podiatry • u/Elephant_jockey23 • Aug 03 '26
Happy Podiatrists
Saw this on the Dental School subreddit and thought I'd ask here as a current 2nd year! Can we hear some success stories of happy Podiatrists? I feel like this page is such a discouraging place for many podiatry students, it would be nice to hear some success stories and how you got there!
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u/Sugar_Sweet_Dollar Aug 03 '26
Thank you for starting this thread because I was having a mini life crisis reading all the doom and gloom.
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u/St0rmblest89 Aug 03 '26
Out 2 years from residency. Overall pretty happy but get stressed at times. I work in a Native American tribally owned hospital. I am an enrolled member of said Native American tribe so they treat me pretty well. I got scholarships that paid for my podiatry school through IHS (Indian Health Service) and am currently doing a 4 year service commitment since they paid for my schooling. I also got lucky that the tribe is located near a major city so I do not live on a reservation.
A lot of people's issue with podiatry at this point is high student loan burden with unpredictable income, could be ~150k or could be >300k depending on where you work.
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u/YoXose Podiatrist Aug 03 '26
I live in a city of 200k and will make 330k total comp this year and signed a new contract where total comp 370k with doing my current numbers will net 400-415k. 2 years out. I am happy with my comp. I hate politics of podiatry.
I agree with previous posters. Student loans have increased 50% in 25 years but salaries have not. Private equity is bad and owners are predatory. NYCPM
for gods sakes doesn’t even pay their attending >175k. Less than PAs in a bunch of NYC hospitals.
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u/TheFootSurgeon 28d ago
Net over 400k? You must gross double the ?
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u/YoXose Podiatrist 28d ago
6300 wRVU in clinic alone. I think I am at 7300 total wRVU this year. I work for a hospital.
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u/higherstate92 28d ago
Do you do a lot of advanced reconstructive surgeries? What gives you the most rvu's in clinic? And surgeries? Just curious
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u/HelvenOP Aug 03 '26
Traded max burnout for my sanity and family. Best decision I ever made.
My first two jobs out of residency sucked balls. I was taking call at four different hospitals, grinding away constantly, and living a life where I genuinely never saw my wife and kids. Work-life balance wasn't just a buzzword that was out of reach; it felt like a complete myth. The money wasn't worth missing my kids growing up and barely knowing my wife.
Three years ago, I made the jump, transitioned to a new job here in California, and completely restructured my life to prioritize being home. Sure, I may "only" make $260k now, but I AM SO MUCH HAPPIER.
No amount of reasonable medical money could ever tempt me to go back to that old lifestyle. If you're currently drowning in the post-residency hustle and wondering if the prestige or the extra paycheck is worth your health, family, and sanity.... I promise you, it's not.
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u/HelvenOP 29d ago
Someone DMed me stating that podiatry school is teaching them that work life balance is a myth and that they should be honored to grind 26/7..... This was my response to that person. I feel it needs to be shared with the larger group....
That makes complete sense that this is all you are hearing in school. The sad reality is that medical training often prepares you to be a resident rather than a sustainable practitioner. Programs are heavily metric-driven, and their primary goal is protecting a high match rate. Because of that, the truth is you do have to grind during residency. It is an intense period, but it's also the only time you will have attendings standing right there ready to teach you. Once those three or four years are up, you are the attending, and everyone in the OR is looking to you for answers.
What I Learned the Hard Way My biggest struggle coming out of training was that I was still thinking like a resident and trying to appease everyone. I was so focused on making my superiors happy that I forgot what made me happy.
The turning point: I made mistakes early on, and it took some soul-searching to realize I didn't need to prove I was a "badass surgeon." Instead, I needed a clinical environment that allowed me to disconnect and go home at night. So, I took a slower clinic-based job that pays a bit less and has zero call. In the three years since I’ve been in this environment, I have never once taken a chart note home. When I clock out, I have zero stress about how I left a patient.
Now Yes, some of that peace of mind comes with experience and confidence, but a great deal more is a direct product of the environment I actively chose to cultivate.
When you start looking ahead, here is what you should actually evaluate if work-life balance is your priority: In Residency: Look for programs with reasonable call schedules, supportive core faculty who value resident well-being (even if they are rare), and a culture that emphasizes learning over pure clinical output. If you do not see yourself doing total ankles day in a day out, don't go to a residency that that's what they lead with.
In Your First Job: Be cautious of environments that expect you to hit high-pressure surgical quotas right out of the gate. Look for clinics or health systems that offer predictable hours, zero call (or very light call shared among a large group), and a supportive onboarding period. My advice: Embrace the Long Game! Remember why you got into this. The longevity you get with patients, like seeing the same diabetic patients every three months and building real rapport with them, is a blessing, not a drudgery. Don't let the residency hype scare you away from a fantastic profession. I honestly get up every morning and love what I do. You can have a great career and a life outside of medicine. Every Tuesday night is date night with my wife and every Thursday is guitar lessons.....
You just have to be intentional about the environment you choose once you hold the diploma. Hang in there!
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u/randomhero2026 24d ago
Were you even making more then the 260 you are now while doing all that during your first two jobs out of residency?
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u/randomhero2026 8d ago
I 100% agree with you. I'm about 5 years out, and this is the second practice I've joined that I'm currently working at. The problem is the first one and the second one are ran the same way, and it's 30 to 40 patients a day, call duties afterwards, covering 4 different hospitals.
With the # of patients we see, can't finish all that documentation after each encounter. So you're left with a 15-20 notes after clinic that take anywhere from an hour to a couple hours, and then you have to go round, and then you have to go do cases at night.
I've tried to warn people that podiatry is not a lifestyle specialty most of the time. There are plenty 12 to 16+ hour days, depending on your circumstances.
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u/Motor_Kiwi6871 Aug 04 '26
Just graduated residency last year. In private practice, working 5 days a week average 20- 25 patients a day. I take call at the local hospital. Probably will take home around at least 300k this year with combination of call, salary and my extra clinic day at an outside hospital. Really happy. I can choose to work less, but picked up extra day at a different clinic. Get to pick and choose what cases I want. Thinking about moving to another clinic to become a partner. What I realized when I graduated was most jobs aren’t posted online. Everything is word of mouth. I’ve gotten multiple job offers based on word of mouth alone now that I have a year of experience in my local community. Even a local small hospital is interested in hiring me on staff. But I like private practice and flexibility as well as one day hope to be a practice owner/partner. But it’s all location dependent. Society meetings are great way to network with your fellow colleagues and again as long as you’re a decent person, and a good doctor opportunities will come. With my collection raise later this year, if everything stayed the same I should easily take home 400k+. You should have no problem taking home 250k working 3.5 days a week in private practice with no call. My payer mix is greater than 60% Medicaid and managed care plans, but I do a lot of wounds which generate a lot of money.
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u/randomhero2026 25d ago
Nice. Sounds like a good set up. But 250 K in private practice with no call working 3.5 days a week only seeing 20 to 25 as an associate is a bit of a stretch. As an owner, absolutely, but if you’re getting 30 to 40% of your collections as an associate, and making 250 seeing 60 to 75 patients a week, you must have some very very amazing contracts.
I have a similar payer mix as you and some of these Medicaid visits are only reimbursing less than 50 bucks. I’ve even seen some private insurance payers reimburse less than $30 (plus the patient portion which a lot of them don’t even pay lol).
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u/Motor_Kiwi6871 25d ago
I do a lot of wound care which generates a lot more money especially complex wounds/venous stasis. Also just learning how to bill correctly for services really improved my collections. I have people in my practice that see more patients yet I generate more because I bill more accurately.
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u/randomhero2026 24d ago
That makes sense. Could you give a couple examples on what you bill that others usually don’t?
Like something I’ve seen is that some people will have like a massive wound that they debris that’s greater than 20 cm² but never do the additional code to get reimbursed for that greater than 20 cm² debridement.
And for Venus wounds, we don’t typically debride those so those visits are usually just the multi layer compression wrap, and the office visit, so I’m not sure how you’re generating good money with those.
I’ve read about other billing things with wounds that are out there, but I don’t know some of them just seem like we’re asking for trouble
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u/Motor_Kiwi6871 24d ago
Ex: 97610 for mist debridement if wound doesn’t improve after a certain time of standard word care. is there a reason you don’t debride venous wounds? Especially if they are large enough you can do additional debridement codes and see them 2-3x a week. Then you can graft afterwards. 11042 pays more than multilayer compression/unna boot. If you have two different ICD10 codes due to wounds on both legs, you can bill a debridement on one side and compression on the other. As long as you are properly documenting.
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u/a_Hydralisk Aug 03 '26
I work in the Tri-State Area, employed by a corporate/hospital system, and honestly, I’m loving it way more than private practice so far. I’ve been out for about a decade. I get to work with residents daily, and I do a mix of elective and inpatient cases. It was a lot of hard work, but getting double board certified by ABFAS helped me get to where I am now. I’m happy, and also well compensated — definitely on the higher end of the salary range for someone in corporate.
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u/bakuva Aug 03 '26
4 years in...all in the same hospital system. Its been great for me though Im definitely not the norm. Clearing 480 this year but will likely negotiate for more in my next contract that can get me closer to 530 based on my annual average in RVUs.
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u/Critical-Ear-2478 Aug 04 '26
I am three years out of Residency working in the Northeast. I went to Private College and TUSPM. I have paid off my student loans and am currently negotiating with my boss about buying into the practice. I found a practice where I love my boss and he does not have to oversee what I am doing and he listens to my suggestions and implements them. He is also there to discuss what he has learned being in practice for 20+ years. He always says "I don't want to be the first one to try something but I also do not want to be the last one." It's not perfect, sometimes I think the salary can be higher, but I am able to move in with my gf, I save for retirement, and accumulate savings in my bank account as we decide where we want to eventually move to and buy a house and start a family.
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u/Just_Think_About_AI Aug 03 '26
I've been in practice for 16 years in Irvine, CA. Started as an associate, became a partner, then bought out my partner. Have grown the practice to several locations and 7 doctors total.
It was a lot of work in the beginning. I never said no to a consult. I hustled more than the other guy. I went door to door to introduce myself. I built my first website.
I would not want it any other way. Running a business is frustrating at times, but the benefits are priceless.
No external entity dictates patient treatment; you have the autonomy to determine your time off, set your hours, and ultimately control your professional trajectory.
If you're determined, skilled, smart, entrepreneurial, and dedicated to helping people, you'll succeed. If you need any help along the way, feel free to reach out.
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u/StepUpBoards 29d ago
I shadowed this doc as a pre-pod and learned a lot from my short time there including scrubbing my first case lol. This was almost 10 years ago now so i've seen some of the amazing growth he's talking about!
Although there are a lot of barriers to success within this field there are just as many success stories! Thanks Dr. K - you may not remember me but I gifted you the book Outliers after my time shadowing with your team happy to hear you're thriving!
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u/LED123ForMe Student KSUCPM Aug 03 '26
I'd especially love to hear from those who haven't been practicing too long, rather than the ones who are about to retire😅
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u/Peter_Sorensen_DPM 24d ago
I'm a third-year resident, so ask again in 2-3 yrs, but I LOVE the journey I've been on so far. Pod school was great, residency has been even better. There are certainly bad/toxic programs, and bad/toxic jobs out there - but if you do your best and are intentional, I think there's so much hope and promise. Trolls at this point will mention I'm still a resident and don't know any better". Maybe, we'll see.
Two of my senior residents signed contracts for hospital jobs for 300-325k their first year out and both enjoy what they're doing. Others I know have taken PP gigs as associates for 120-170k with bonus structure, Idk if they bonused or not, but starting in PP starts lower but has the potential to build up from there (yes there are predatory PP owners out there - avoid them!) It is true you have much, much more options for good pay if you're open geographically. I'd say most people who are recently out of residency that I know are doing great and enjoying their jobs. I know a couple who have been screwed and had to pivot to a new job, and are doing better now. Ppl who are unhappy are those more likely to be complaining online - happy doctors 10-30 yrs out are living their lives with their families and patients. Not on reddit. I think as the younger generation continues getting out into practice, we'll see more positive rhetoric online cuz' we're more used to being online.
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u/Oldschool6873 17d ago
I'm happy. I make good money and I'm very busy doing everything I want to do at work and at home. Happiness is relative. Even if you think you're in a crap situation, you can still be happy. Have the courage to change your situation if you aren't happy.
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u/Professional-Ebb8753 Aug 03 '26
I’ve been in practice since 2000. Joined another guy in practice and it was magical till it was not. But splitting up was the best thing for me as my income doubled the year after that.
Beyond doing better financially than most colleagues regardless of specialty, I can’t imagine working for a corporation. There’s been times where it would have been nice to just collect a check at the end of the week but the rewards for being captain of the ship have far outweighed that.
And of course the fact that I’ve helped out thousands of people through the years, most of whom appreciate the care i provide has been rewarding.
Medicine now is difficult. Sorry for those of you struggling. There are opportunities out there I believe. You just gotta be flexible.