Power Points
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In 1999, shortly before Steven Grossman's wife died of pancreatic cancer at age 49, the Colum biana, OH, family physician
took a leave of absence from his group practice. "I loved clinical medicine," he says. "But I felt that this significant event
in my life had happened for a reason, and I had to figure out what that was."
Long a part-time academic, Grossman ultimately moved to Tallahassee to become a teacher and the director of career development
at the Florida State University College of Medicine soon after the college welcomed its first class in 2001. He enjoyed the
work and the interaction with aspiring physicians, but in 2004 an Ohio hospice made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
"During my years as a clinician, I served as a volunteer medical director for Hospice of the Valley in Boardman, which I had
helped to organize," he says. "When the hospice began planning an inpatient facility, I was hired as full-time medical director.
The hospice's board was looking for someone who was comfortable making home visits and had a holistic view of patient care."
Additionally, Grossman felt he could bring more to the job than someone who hadn't viewed end-of-life care as closely and
as personally as he had.
Grossman's journey from clinical to nonclinical medicine is one that increasing numbers of physicians are making—or at least
contemplating. The reasons include a desire to escape managed care and malpractice insurance hassles, to use talents that
aren't fully exploited in the exam room, and to experience new challenges. Nonclinical fields where a medical degree comes in handy are numerous and varied. In addition to opportunities in pharmaceuticals,
insurance, utilization review, biotechnology, health systems, risk management, occupational health, and academia, physicians
can earn a living as consultants, lecturers, and writers. Indeed, Robert F. Priddy, executive director of PhysicianCareerNetwork
in Englewood, CO, maintains that physicians who apply for a nonclinical medical job have a leg up on the competition. "You
can reasonably tell a potential employer, 'I meet all your needs, plus I have a medical degree.' "
Still, going from an exam room to a classroom or boardroom is risky, because often it means starting over, and putting aside
skills that were learned at great expense. It also means developing a network, writing a resume, and being interrogated by
interviewers. And in many cases it means less income—at least initially, while you're getting established.
Here's how some of your colleagues retooled their work life, and what they and career counselors say about the nonclinical
job market.
Exploiting talents you had all along
Not surprisingly, physicians who take up a nonclinical line of work make use of abilities they developed prior to or during
their clinical days. Before physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist Marilee Sipski became senior vice president and
chief medical officer for CHN Solutions, a managed care organization in Hamilton, NJ, she did committee work, was director
of outpatient services, and set up clinical programs—in addition to seeing patients—at Gaylord Hos pital in Wallingford, CT.
In 1997, after Sipski be-came a part-time consultant to develop a workers' compensation product for CHN, she began taking
courses through the American College of Physician Executives. She now heads several departments, including medical advisory,
credentialing, quality, and utilization management. "This position has given me a tremendous opportunity to use my perspective
as a physician to participate in another arena of healthcare," she says.
Physician career migrations can be swift or incremental. Some examples:
Practice Tools
