How Offcall Rallied to Help an Anesthesiology Group With Their Salary Negotiation

Welcome back to On/Offcall!

Wow. We asked, and you delivered. I can’t tell you how many anesthesiologists have reached out after our call to action to help a rural independent anesthesia group that’s entering into a salary contract negotiation next week.

If you’re just hearing about this for the first time, the group is an 18-person anesthesia practice that provides 24/7/365 coverage to a busy hospital doing OR, sedations, and OB care. They want to stay independent and control their schedules, and they fear the hospital will undervalue them in the negotiations. So they asked the Offcall community, and anesthesiologists in particular, to share anonymous salary data to help them push back on the hospital and benchmark their actual value. You can watch my video about the case here.

Here’s what’s been most inspiring: We’ve heard from rural doctors, executives, CMOs, and anesthesiologists across the U.S. saying they’d like to help by uploading their salary information anonymously and providing negotiation tips. It truly feels like there's a new wave of recognition among physicians that we've got to support each other. It's inspiring to see — and perfect validation for why Offcall exists. We’re stronger together.

Thank you all — I’m grateful for this growing community! And please: If you’re an anesthesiologist and haven’t done so yet, you can make an account on Offcall to share your data. Also, please continue to spread the word over the weekend by sharing my video or adding a comment. If you have any other thoughts, negotiation tips, or words of wisdom to the group, also feel free to reply directly.

Graham Walker, MD, Emergency Physician
Co-founder, Offcall

Know someone who would benefit from joining us? Help us grow our tent by forwarding this newsletter to your physician colleagues and subscribing here.

The Worst Clauses Hiding in Your Employment Contract

On this episode of How I Doctor, Graham talks with Michael Johnson, an attorney who helps physicians across the U.S. to negotiate better employment contracts. If you’ve ever wondered about the red flags every physician should look out for, or how to negotiate changes, then this episode is for you. Learn actionable tips that you can use to protect your well-being.

Listen to the episode →

Most Talked About On Offcall

This Practice Urgently Needs Your Help to Win Their Salary Negotiation

Here’s how you can help this anesthesia practice stay independent. Thank you!

Why I Started a Ketamine Clinic and Taught Other Doctors to Do The Same

A Side Gig story you don’t see every day: Dr. Samuel Ko quit traditional medicine to start his own ketamine clinic and help others do the same.

The Most Accomplished MD Entrepreneurs Followed The Same Lesson

They all made this same conscious choice to shift the culture of medicine.

Physician Builder Spotlight: Justin Schrager

After the incredible response we received to our post about why more physicians should start companies, we’re shining a light on MD-entrepreneurs. Each week, we’ll feature a doctor who’s building a cool product or company that you definitely want to know about. This week, meet Dr. Justin Schrager, Founder & Chief Medical Officer of Vital. Connect with Justin on LinkedIn and learn more about his company here.

1. Justin, why did you decide to become an entrepreneur? I like to solve problems, and what better problem to solve than modernizing patient communication. I became an entrepreneur to enact the change I wanted to see. The discomfort of taking on financial and professional risk by stepping outside of a traditional path was certainly a deterrent, but the opportunity was too great to pass up. My inspiration hasn’t changed. I am fortunate to lead a mission-driven organization and build cool things that magnify the parts of clinical care that I value most: compassion, connection, and communication.

2. What does your company do? Vital creates software that provides personalized guidance to hospital and ER patients. Vital is sold as a SAAS model to hospitals and health systems seeking to enhance patient communication. During their stays, patients access Vital through their smartphones to understand their care journey. Our intelligent AI system anticipates questions before they arise — from predicting ED wait times to summarizing clinical information. The platform is designed to work equally well in all care areas. The end result is happier and better-informed patients, improved clinical and operational outcomes, and reduced staff burden.

3. What’s your advice for any physician considering entrepreneurship? 1) Decide if you still want to work clinically or are ready to leave the stethoscope behind. 2) Figure out what "project" you want to invest your time and energy in. Does a mission matter to you? Does it need to be your idea or would you be happy joining an existing company? 3) Don't be afraid to take on responsibility as an operator. You don't need to be "window dressing" for a health tech company. 4) Be ready for a marathon. Bringing real change to healthcare takes a while. 5) Find a co-founder who complements your skills. 6) Push past your fear of failure.

4. What’s a surprising lesson you’ve learned from building? When I was starting Vital, I assumed the friction in startup life would be all the “MBA stuff” that isn’t taught in med school, like fundraising, sales, and business operations. But what I found to be the most difficult was maintaining long-term focus. As one of our prescient investors put it: “Companies like yours don’t die of starvation, they die of indigestion.” As a doctor, you’ll want to consider many possible solutions to each problem. It’s a core tenet of our training. Ignore that impulse and get comfortable saying “no” or “not right now,” even to ideas that are great.

This Q&A was shortened for the newsletter, but you can read the full-length version here.

Know someone else who should be featured? Reply or tag them and their company in the comments!

Highlights From Our Community

Each week, we celebrate career milestones, launches, & other goings-on in the physician community. Have something to promote? Reply and we’ll feature you.

🦉 Words of wisdom, Bill Frist
Dr. Bill Frist’s take on why we’re at a tipping point due to GenAI and how it’s going to define healthcare. Read it here.

🌟🎥👑 Go Brad Goldberg
More from chief resident Dr. Brad Goldberg’s visit with the cast of The Pitt at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. See it here.

👨‍🏫 Check it out, Hardeep Phull
Dr. Hardeep Phull gave a video lecture about the latest findings in the management of Smoldering Multiple Myeloma (SMM). Learn more here.

🎙️ Give it a listen, John Huff
Dr. John Huff’s podcast episode about leadership in healthcare with Kim Downey is live! Check it out here.

🎙️ Another great podcast, Dale Gold
Dr. Dale Gold appeared on the NerdMDs podcast with Dr. Adam Carewe and Dr. Jackie Gerhart giving a peek behind the curtain at Epic. Listen here.

🆕 Worth a look, Vimal Mishra
Dr. Vimal Mishra’s Urgent Care at Home work at UC Davis Health was recognized in NEJM Catalyst. Check it out here.

🎉 Congrats, Jon Wang
Big fundraising announcement for Assort Health using AI to help with patient scheduling. Learn more here.

👍 Well said, Graham
Part 2 of Graham Walker’s reflection on what happens if AI causes the "erosion of critical thinking" in medicine? Read it here.

Be Sure to Sign Up for Offcall!

New to Offcall? We believe physicians deserve to be heard, valued, and treated fairly. Everything we do is driven by our commitment to empowering doctors with accurate, reliable, and trustworthy data — enabling them to advocate confidently for themselves and ensure their compensation truly reflects their worth. Our product is getting rave reviews!

Learn more and sign up here

Did Someone Share On/Offcall With You?

Thanks for reading. Each week, we bring the latest news, information, financial and career tips, and a dose of inspiration to your inbox. Our community is growing fast! Join us by subscribing to this newsletter. And please forward this newsletter to your colleagues and friends.

Subscribe