Healthcare professionals can benefit financially from an MD

Healthcare professionals can benefit financially from an MD

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), overall employment of doctors is projected to increase by 22 percent over the next eight years. Aside from promising career prospects, doctors earn the highest salaries of all members of the healthcare industry.

In an effort to provide education to those who wish to pursue this field, the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth (UNTHSC) recently launched a doctor of medicine (MD) degree program. In order to receive approval, the school had to secure all necessary start-up funding from the community, establish a business plan for the new school, ensure commitments to secure a strong future for all existing program, and confirm relationships with area hospitals for student rotations and graduate training.

UNT also announced that the program will be independent of other medical schools within the school's system, such as the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, School of Public Health and School of Health Professions.

"This innovative private-public proposal is particularly important as the state responds to financial challenges by allowing the local community to provide all start-up funds for a new medical school as a method to address the growing physician shortages across the state," said Scott Ransom, UNTHSC president.

Those who wish to launch a career as a doctor are likely to be financially secure, as physicians earned an average of $186,044 during the 2008-2009 fiscal year, and those who practiced in medical specialties earned a median salary of $339,738 during that time.

By Mark Danson