Your compensation reflects a hybrid model that combines the income security of employed medicine with the upside potential and autonomy of private practice. Southern Medical Group employs you directly while Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare provides a two-year salary guarantee to the practice, creating financial stability during your ramp-up period without sacrificing the physician governance and clinical control that define private practice culture. This structure has proven successful for decades, allowing physicians to build sustainable practices while benefiting from hospital infrastructure and capital investment.
The financial package extends well beyond base salary through multiple ancillary income streams that materialize immediately upon joining the practice. Unlike corporate models where physicians receive flat salaries regardless of productivity or engagement, you benefit directly from additional clinical activities including hospital-based imaging, teaching, quality improvement work, and committee participation. These income streams typically add $45,000 to $60,000 annually for associate physicians, with significantly higher earnings potential once you achieve partnership status after 12 months.
Your two-year guaranteed base salary of $600,000 provides the financial foundation while you integrate into the regional cardiovascular network. This guarantee applies regardless of productivity during your first two years. The hospital provides this guarantee to Southern Medical Group, demonstrating institutional commitment to physician recruitment and program growth rather than leaving financial risk entirely on the practice.
Beginning with your first day of employment, you receive productivity compensation calculated monthly based on work relative value units (wRVUs) generated above your salary threshold. Associates earn $60 per wRVU with a monthly reconciliation that pays productivity bonuses throughout the year rather than deferring all incentive compensation to an annual settlement. Your wRVU threshold equals $600,000 divided by $60, creating a breakeven point of 10,000 wRVUs annually or approximately 833 wRVUs monthly.
Partnership eligibility begins after 12 consecutive months of full-time employment with a buy-in cost of $30,000. This relatively modest investment purchases equity in a practice with decades of operational history, established payer contracts, significant real estate holdings, and multiple ancillary income streams. The buy-in functions as true equity rather than simply purchasing your own future earnings, meaning you acquire ownership interest in hard assets and shared resources rather than making a deposit that gets returned upon departure.
Partnership status brings immediate financial benefits including the wRVU rate increase from $60 to $65 (an 8.3% raise on all productivity compensation) and vacation expansion from six weeks to ten weeks annually. More significantly, partnership unlocks access to income streams unavailable to associate physicians, creating meaningful wealth-building opportunities beyond clinical compensation.
Your benefits package includes employer-paid health insurance, short-term and long-term disability coverage, and life insurance. Dental and vision insurance options extend to your dependents, creating comprehensive family coverage rather than forcing you to purchase individual policies at higher rates. The practice covers malpractice insurance with no tail expense upon separation, eliminating the concern about six-figure tail payments that burden physicians in claims-made policies when they change employers or retire.
Time off includes six weeks annually that combines vacation, sick time, and continuing medical education, giving you flexibility to use this time however best supports your needs rather than segregating days into rigid categories. The practice provides $2,000 for CME expenses and separately pays medical license renewal fees and DEA registration, treating these as practice costs rather than deductions from your CME allowance. Upon partnership, vacation expands to ten weeks annually, creating exceptional time off that supports genuine work-life integration and prevents the burnout plaguing many high-intensity procedural practices.
You receive a $50,000 signing bonus paid either as a lump sum upon contract execution or distributed monthly beginning with your signing. This provides immediate capital for relocation expenses, housing deposits, furniture purchases, or simply financial cushion during the transition to a new community and practice. Separately, the practice reimburses up to $10,000 in documented relocation expenses including moving company charges, temporary housing, and travel costs associated with your move to Tallahassee.
Beginning immediately upon employment, you earn approximately $30,000 to $35,000 annually through hospital-based imaging work performed as 1099 income separate from the Heart Station rotation reserved for partners. This represents readings and interpretations performed for the hospital rather than private practice patients, creating an additional income stream available to all physicians regardless of partnership status. Teaching compensation through the TMH and FSU internal medicine residency program generates another $5,000 to $10,000 annually for physicians who participate in resident education and precepting, recognizing the time investment required for quality teaching while supporting the academic mission.
Your comprehensive first-year compensation including base salary, productivity potential, signing bonus, and ancillary income streams can reasonably reach $725,000 to $800,000. Upon partnership, total compensation including all income streams often exceeds a million dollars for interventional cardiologists with strong procedural volumes, comparing favorably to employed interventionalists in major metropolitan markets while maintaining significantly lower cost of living and superior lifestyle benefits.
This financial package rewards clinical excellence, procedural skill, and long-term commitment rather than simply paying you to show up and work assigned shifts. The multiple income streams create diversification that employed models cannot match, while partnership equity and ASC investment build wealth beyond what's possible in pure salary arrangements. You benefit financially from the practice's success rather than watching hospital administrators and corporate executives capture all growth value while paying physicians flat salaries regardless of contribution.