On/Offcall: How Medicine Is Failing Women Physicians

This past Monday, we released a special episode of the How I Doctor podcast because our guest had an important message that simply couldn’t wait.

Dr. Tiffany Moon, MD, FASA is a top anesthesiologist, entrepreneur, TV star, and author of the new book "Joy Prescriptions," which details her own struggles with burnout and finding joy in her life and career. Graham talked with Tiffany about one of the deep and systemic issues affecting all of medicine: “Almost 30% of female physicians leave medicine entirely or significantly cut their hours within 6 years of graduating from residency. Something’s not right.”

As an anesthesiologist who went through years of training and sacrifice herself, Tiffany highlighted the experience that so many women in medicine face: "They’ve sacrificed, trained, taken on debt, delayed life milestones … only to find a system that makes it untenable to stay. You don’t make that kind of investment just to say ‘I’ll stay home’ or ‘I’ll start a knitting business.’ The problem is NOT the women. The problem is the system. I stand by that.”

Throughout the episode, they discussed:
- What’s driving early-career female physicians out of medicine
- The impossible double standards placed on doctor moms
- Why flexible work shouldn’t mean career punishment
- The silent cost of losing so many talented women in medicine
- What true systemic support should look like

Frankly, this was one of our most important episodes of How I Doctor yet, and we’re excited to see the much needed conversation that it sparked on social media here.

Tiffany has been a real Offcall champion – in a recent post on her Instagram feed, she discussed the importance of salary transparency for women and why Offcall’s community-powered salary data can truly help shift the balance of power to give physicians more negotiating leverage.

Thank you Tiffany, for being a believer in Offcall’s mission and for your advocacy! Go and buy Tiffany's book here: https://lnkd.in/gi5qxkYF. And listen to the full episode below.

And be sure to share your reaction by replying or adding your response in the comments!

Listen to the full episode →

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Most Talked About On Offcall

How a Rural Anesthesia Group Turned Community Salary Data Into Negotiating Power

A case study about the power of Offcall!

How to Negotiate a Non-Compete In Your Employment Contract
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Physician Builder Spotlight: Kevin Kadakia

Our new series! After the incredible response we received to our post about why more physicians should start companies, we’re shining a light on MD-entrepreneurs. Each week, we’ll feature a doctor who’s building a cool product or company that you definitely want to know about. This week, meet Dr. Kevin Kadakia, the Chief Operating Officer at Radiology One. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn and learn more about his company here.

1. Kevin, tell us why you became a physician entrepreneur? Honestly? Need. We subspecialize so much in radiology today. And that’s fine. Medicine is complex. Being a physician-entrepreneur isn’t the default setting for everyone. Not every surgeon should run a startup, and not every founder should hold a scalpel. I just happen to enjoy the entrepreneurial chaos, and I seem to have a knack for it. But let’s be clear — just because a physician doesn’t know how to build a pitch deck doesn’t mean you get to shortchange them. We don’t expect business folks to know how to remove a gallbladder.

2. Tell us what your company does. There’s a national shortage of radiologists for several reasons: We’re aging; imaging orders have gone up; and the government keeps cutting reimbursement like they’re trying to make radiology disappear via budget magic. Spoiler alert: It’s not working. At Radiology One, we’re rewriting the script. We cut out the middlemen, like private equity and recruiters, and give a greater portion of reimbursements back to radiologists. Revolutionary, I know — paying doctors to do doctor stuff. We think that if you pay people fairly and treat them well, they might stick around, and maybe even pick up an extra shift.

3. What’s your advice for any physician considering entrepreneurship? It’s hard — like “call nights during residency”-level hard, but with more spreadsheets and fewer snacks. The rewards come eventually, but you’ll wonder for a while if you’re just building a complicated, expensive hobby. With that said, don’t forget that medicine is still the hardest part. It’s not something you just “delegate” when you become a leader. If you’re leading physicians, don’t pretend that you don’t remember that 2 a.m. page for a stat head CT. Because, if you forget what that grind feels like, you probably shouldn’t be in charge.

4. What’s a surprising lesson you’ve learned along the way? If you miss a question in med school, you still pass. In real life — both in clinical practice and in business, if you miss a critical detail, the whole Jenga tower collapses. But I’ve learned that a lot of entrepreneurship is like prepping for a case you might never get. You plan, you prepare, and you build systems not knowing when or if they’ll be used. Then one day, opportunity knocks, and you’re like, “Oh, hey, I do have a PACS-integrated solution with a cybersecurity audit plan and a 24/7 credentialed team.” And suddenly, all that prep feels like clairvoyance instead of compulsive overthinking.

This Q&A was shortened for the newsletter, but you can read the full-length version here. Know someone else who should be featured? Reply or tag them and their company in the comments!

3 Things to Read This Week

Who is Dr. Casey Means? (NYTimes)
A profile of President Trump’s new nomination for surgeon general.

Reigniting the human experience in healthcare (The Beryl Institute)
A call to action for healthcare organizations to recommit to compassion.

A pulse check on Trump’s first 100 days (Fierce Healthcare)
A comprehensive look at what’s happened in healthcare.

Highlights From Our Community

Each week, we celebrate career milestones, launches, & other goings-on in the physician community. Have something to promote? Reply and we’ll feature you.

💬 Great talk alert, Bill Cherniak!
This coming Monday May 12, Dr. Paulius Mui is hosting a virtual chat with Dr. Bill Cherniak, founder of Rocket Doctor, about building a health tech company for Medicaid patients and much more. RSVP here.

👏 Well done, Allyssa Abel
Dr. Ally Abel joined emergency physicians on Capitol Hill for the ACEP Leadership & Advocacy Conferences and met members of Congress to advocate for physicians. Great work! Learn more here.

🎥 Don’t miss this primer, Shivam Vedak & Dong-han Yao
Two Stanford clinical informaticists Dr. Shivam Vedak and Dr. Dong-han Yao deliver a generative AI primer for doctors. Watch it here.

🚀 Congratulations, Zhen Wang
Postdoctoral fellow Zhen Wang was awarded the Friedman Brain Institute Arnold Family Postdoc Innovator Award. Congrats! Shoutout post from Dr. Brian Kim here.

👍 Important commentary, Geeta Nayyar
Dr. Geeta Nayyar shared her views on medical misinformation and the consequences of patients’ distrusting physicians in a poignant social media post. Read it here.

👏 Strong work, Priya Jaisinghani
Dr. Priya Jaisinghani was featured as a LinkedIn Top Voice for her commentary on Lilly’s oral GLP-1 pill. Read it here.

💬 Go and debate him, Jared Dashevsky
Will AI replace doctors? Or will doctors who use AI start replacing those who don’t? Go and debate Dr. Jared Dashevsky! We dare you.

🎙️ Good podcast listen, Basil Kahwash
Dr. Basil Kahwash recently sat down with the BackTable ENT podcast to explore the world of chronic cough. Give it a listen here.

🌊 Making waves, Spencer Dorn
Dr. Spencer Dorn’s review of AI scribes and what the evidence shows is making the rounds on social media. Read it here.

📢 Hot off the press, Adam Milam
Dr. Adam Milam’s important research about perioperative healthcare disparities in the United States is published! Read it here.

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