Whether you need extra income to pay off student loans, save for that trip you've been planning, or fund a bit of lifestyle creep, your medical knowledge is a potential gold mine.

This quick guide is focused on just that: utilizing your medical knowledge, experience and intuition to find extra income outside of your daily shifts. This might be doing something you’ve never thought of, or it could mean something hospital-adjacent.

Opportunities in 2026 have never been more expansive.

Below we’ll break down real opportunities by what actually matters: how much you'll make, how much time it takes, and whether it's worth the headache.

If you take away anything from this guide, it’s that you start to think outside the box with regards to your earning potential. 

We’ll start off with side gigs for physicians that enable you to earn quickly, and ones that are relatively low effort.

Just the very nature of those attributes means these will be in high demand, meaning that your earring potential is supply-constrained. However, this can enable you to get your feet wet in terms of trying something on the side.

Drug companies, research firms and AI labs will pay good money for your medical opinion. More often than not, however, medical surveys are harder to come by as the supply just isn’t high enough to meet the demand from medical professionals. While the surveys can be sparse over the course of the year, your earnings can stack up without too much time commitment. And in this particular side gig, specializations will command higher rates.

Earnings: $50-300 per survey (specialists command higher rates) 

Time: 15-60 minutes per survey 

Annual potential: $2,000-8,000

Platforms to join:

We’d recommend creating a dedicated email for these that you can setup to filter to your actual email. The newly created email has a higher chance of getting spammed.

While the upside is limited in terms of the number of surveys based on your specialty, you can do them while waiting for consults or even on a Sunday afternoon. 

Downsides include the fact that these are inconsistent and particular. Some weeks nothing might show up, some weeks three surveys with to-do dates. We’ve also spoken with some physicians who label this as a “waste of time” because you might answer long surveys just to be disqualified to join the survey. Results vary widely.

*The M.D. can earn commission from this link, if you sign up we thank you for your support!

Hedge funds and consulting firms pay high hourly rates to pick your brain about your specialty, treatment patterns, or medical devices you use.

Earnings: $200-500/hour (sometimes $1,000+ for rare specialties) 

Time: 30-60 minute calls, scheduled around your availability 

Annual potential: $5,000-30,000+

How it works:

Example platforms:

Best specialties: Oncology, cardiology, rare diseases, anyone using expensive devices or drugs

The upside of Expert Networks is that this offers one of the highest hourly rates for some of the lowest effort. Each network will have their own process to qualify you, understand your expertise and pay you. However, calls are unpredictable and you might go months without a match. 

If you’re okay with the spiky income potential, it may be worth your time. Additionally, there are newer platforms like Mercor whose primary purpose is to help AI labs train their large language models. If you’re not okay with the concept of training AI, I highly suggest against this.

Compliance note: Never share patient info or proprietary employer data. Stick to general clinical practice patterns.

These opportunities are a bit more involved, but can generate significant side income if you’re so inclined. These gigs will likely involve more consistent hours weekly or monthly, and will take a bit of networking to get started.

You crushed those exams. Now get paid to help others do the same.

Earnings: $100-200/hour 

Time: 3-10 hours/week 

Annual potential: $15,000-50,000

Platforms:

Best candidates: Anyone who scored 250+ on Step 1/2 or 520+ on MCAT

The upside of tutoring outside of helping the next generation is that it reinforces your own knowledge, and offers more flexible scheduling around your clinical and admin work. The tutored students are highly motivated as well. However, teaching can feel like a grind and you don’t want to overcommit to multiple students and then burn out.

Pro tip: Charge more for private clients ($150-200/hr). The platforms tend to take 20-40% cuts of your income (outside of taxes), but will reduce the admin work to get going. Pick your poison.

Pharma companies, medical education firms, and health tech startups need physicians who can write clearly about medicine.

Earnings: $0.50-2.00/word or $75-200/hour 

Time: 5-15 hours/week 

Annual potential: $10,000-60,000+

Types of gigs:

Where to find work:

The upside to medical writing? You can work from anywhere. It also helps you continue to build your expertise and can pad your resume/portfolio if so desired. There’s some potential for this to become a passive income stream (royalties on question banks).

The downsides include short deadlines to turn in material, very high bars for quality writing, and it might just be uninspiring for some. Writing can be a slog.

Lawyers need doctors to review malpractice cases and sometimes testify. Though more rare, this gig pays extremely well. Here’s a semi-recent Reddit thread highlighting some of the pros, cons and details of the gig.

Earnings: $200-500/hour (expert witness testimony can hit $1,000+/hour) 

Time: 2-10 hours/week 

Annual potential: $20,000-100,000+

Platforms:

Usually need 3-5+ years post-residency experience but potential for good pay and doing a public service (though paid). Downside: Depositions and testimony can be stressful, cases drag on for years in some cases, and as mentioned on the Reddit thread, the court system runs pretty chaotically.

Pro tip: Start with chart review only before committing to testimony work. Get a feel for whether you enjoy it.

This “gig” (if you can call it that) is highly requested, but ultimately pretty rare. Health tech startups desperately need clinical input and they'll pay for your expertise on workflows, product design, and market validation. But it’s worth noting that you’re typically not paid in cash, and the calls can be few and far between. It will also take a lot of networking.

Earnings: $200-500/hour, often with equity (0.1-1% for formal advisor roles) 

Time: 2-5 hours/month per company 

Annual potential: $10,000-50,000 (plus potential equity upside)

Where to find opportunities:

Physicians who can explain clinical problems clearly and think about solutions. If you’re interested in building products, learning about the latest tech, these opportunities can also bridge to working in the actual industry. I personally know a few physicians who left clinical practice to become Chief Medical Officer at health tech startups.

Upside: Intellectual stimulation. Networking. Potential equity upside if the startup wins. Downside: Most startups fail. Equity is a lottery ticket. Some founders are difficult.

Pro tip: Start with paid hourly consulting before taking equity-only roles. Your time has value and equity often doesn’t pan out.

These gigs sound great on the surface, but will end up taking the most effort and time. They’re also the most hospital-adjacent roles in terms of day-to-day responsibilities. Think hard before jumping into these.

Fill in at hospitals or clinics short on staff. The original physician side hustle.

Earnings: $150-300/hour (specialty-dependent) 

Time: 8-40+ hours/week 

Annual potential: $30,000-150,000+ (or go full-time)

Specialty rates (approximate):

Major agencies:

The upside of Locums? It has the highest raw earning potential. Plus, you can see and work inside different practice environments, and the gigs often include travel or housing stipends. Downsides? Locums require separate credentialing (takes months), there are malpractice considerations, and the fact that you’re a physician doing physician work means high burnout risk.

Pro tip: Negotiate. Everything is negotiable—rates, housing stipends, travel reimbursement.

See patients virtually during off-hours. The flexibility is unmatched.

Earnings: $100-175/hour 

Time: 5-20 hours/week 

Annual potential: $25,000-80,000

Platforms:

Best specialties: Primary care, psychiatry, dermatology, urgent care

Requirements: Active medical license in states where you practice (multi-state licensing is a thing)

Work from your couch (Pajama-optional), plus completely flexible scheduling. However, some platforms pressure volume over quality (doesn’t the whole healthcare industry?) and you’ll have to be on your laptop the whole time.

The general idea is that by building an audience over time you can monetize your content through sponsorships, courses, affiliates, or products.

This takes a ton of consistency but can also result in some of the highest return outside of your employer compensation. However, there is a fair amount of luck involved in this side gig, and you may never see a dime.

We’re happy to write more about this in a later newsletter, so let us know if that sounds interesting!

Earnings: $0 to $20,000+/month (highly variable) 

Time: 10-20+ hours/week to build, less to maintain 

Annual potential: $0 to $250,000+ (the range is absurd)

Platforms:

Monetization paths:

Social is scalable and can open doors to other opportunities. The problem is that it can take 1-2+ years to see any real returns, if at all. Public exposure can be challenging, and yes, Internet Trolls exist.

Reality check: The doctors making $50K+/month on social media are outliers. Most earn $0-2,000/month unless they treat it like a serious business.

Let's say your attending salary is $250K, which works out to roughly $120/hour (assuming 2,080 work hours/year).

Worth it (hourly rate > $120):

Marginal (depends on execution):

Not worth it for the money alone:

The best side hustle is one you'll actually do! 

A $500/hour opportunity you never pursue is worth less than a $100/hour gig you do consistently.

Start small. Survey sites and expert networks require almost zero commitment. See how it feels to earn outside your W-2. Network at events, on LinkedIn, or at your own clinic or hospital. Talk to your colleagues about what opportunities they’re seeing.

Then scale up to higher-commitment opportunities if you want more.

Remember that your time is valuable as a physician. Make sure you're getting paid like it.

Best,

M&H