Remote Jobs
Exploring the World of Remote Physician Opportunities
Let's be honest: the four walls of a hospital or clinic can feel stifling at times, even with the most vibrant artwork. But there's an alternative career path growing in healthcare, one that empowers physicians to expand their options and explore a vast landscape of remote opportunities. From telemedicine to consulting, the possibilities are as diverse as our own passions, and the best part? We can do it all without leaving our comfy (or wandering!) home offices. Some will pursue a remote position as a side gig and others as part of a portfolio career.
Imagine trading commutes for midday hikes, scrubs for yoga pants, and feelings of monotony for ever changing opportunities. We're talking tele-psychiatrists like Dr. Patel, connecting underserved communities across state lines, or Dr. Jones, a tele-intensivist orchestrating critical care from her RV in a national park. These aren't just day dreams, they're the realities of the growing community of remote physicians.
The menu of options is much more extensive than listed below but here are some ideas to get you started:
Telehealth: This can be face-to-face visits, remote patient monitoring, asynchronous visits and many other models to provide care to inner cities and rural communities. Reaching folks where they're at and where you're licensed.
Pharma & Biotech: Dive into the cutting-edge world of research and development, shaping the future of medicine with your expertise.
Utilization Management: Work to ensure appropriate use of resources where waste is avoided and essential interventions and hospital-stay extensions are approved.
Consulting & Advising: Lend your wisdom to startups, tech giants, law firms, and healthcare organizations, shaping the delivery of healthcare across its many facets.
The upsides of remote work are many and include:
Work-life harmony: Ditch the rigid schedule and embrace flexible hours. I spent a winter scheduling my work for the late afternoons and evenings so that I could go skiing each morning. Best. Winter. Ever.
Location independence: Depending on what type of work you're doing you can be in or out of the US. Your patients can also come from a more diverse set of areas by nature of remote access.
Specialty exploration: From wilderness medicine to pediatric oncology, the world of remote work opens doors to niches many have never even heard of or thought possible to try out.
Financial freedom: Competitive salaries and remote work perks can boost your earning potential, letting you invest in that dream vacation or getting you to FIRE (financial independence retire early).
Of course, every path has some challenges:
No commute, but no coffee break chats: While you ditch the traffic, you also miss out on the in-person camaraderie of a physical workplace. Slack channels and video meetups can help but aren't quite the same. Some people will choose to intermittently work at local co-working spaces to get that feel of being part of a group.
Location flexibility, with limits: Most remote roles require good internet access and, for Medicare billing, staying within the US.
Boundaries blurred: Working from home can be a blessing and a curse. Mastering the art of work-life separation is crucial for remote success.
While some might feel that working for pharma or insurance companies is joining the dark side there are many reasons why taking one of these roles can be beneficial both to you, your colleagues and to patients. Being a reasonable voice on the other end of a peer-to-peer call or being able to speak up for clinician and patient perspectives when developing new meds or devices can have a hugely positive impact.
Here's a list of sites that can be good sources of remote positions:
https://www.docjobs.com/jobs/list/
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/
So your CV and LinkedIn profile to aim at the type of roles you're interested in, and start reaching out to remote physicians in positions that pique your interest. Ask them about their day-to-day, the ups and the downs. Their experiences can give you an idea on whether you want to make this transition.
If you find an awesome remote physician role or another great site to source job opportunities from I'd love to hear about it!
