The Business of Colorectal Surgery: Knowing Your Worth

A career in surgery demands countless hours of clinical training and unwavering dedication to accumulate the knowledge and skills necessary to provide optimal care for patients. The journey to becoming a practicing colorectal surgeon, whether in an academic or private practice setting, requires a decade of training. Concurrently, surgeons will accumulate and maintain debt while receiving little to no financial education related to health care economics. Transparent discussions among colleagues related to contracts and compensation are also often considered taboo. Third-party benchmarking compensation surveys and reports lack sufficient response rates, further limiting one's understanding of their relative value in the field of surgery, particularly among smaller specialties, including colorectal surgery. Adding to the challenge, many surgeons take on additional roles and responsibilities in leadership, teaching, research, and administration that consume time and effort outside of the clinical construct. All these factors make it difficult to answer the question, "What is a surgeon's worth?" In this article, the authors emphasize the value of financial literacy among colorectal surgeons, review compensation models, discuss alternative avenues for revenue generation, and provide some insight into contract negotiation strategies.