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Side Gigs for Cardiologists

Over the years, we’ve seen countless requests for side hustle ideas for physicians in specific specialties in our Physician Side Gigs Facebook group. We continue our series of unique side gigs by specialty with side gigs for cardiologists. 


If you aren’t in cardiology and want to learn more about side gigs for your specialty, check out our page of side gig ideas for different specialties. If your specialty hasn’t been featured in an article yet, follow the series on Instagram, where we’ve featured more specialties.


Disclosure/Disclaimer: Our content is for generalized educational purposes.  While we try to ensure it is accurate and updated, we cannot guarantee it. You should do your own due diligence before making decisions based on this page. To learn more, visit our disclaimers and disclosures.


Unique side gig ideas for cardiologists, including remote reads, pharmaceutical speaking, paid medical surveys, and more

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Side Gigs for Cardiologists


Paid medical surveys


Paid medical surveys are one of the commonly thought of side gigs available for doctors, as the only real barrier to entry is a medical degree. No extra training or skillsets are necessary, so many doctors will attempt to do these at some phase in their careers. With the constant research and clinical trials/drug development happening in this field, as well as the large market for these drugs, pharmaceutical companies are always looking to get feedback from cardiologists. As such, there tends to be more survey opportunities for cardiologists than the average across medical specialties. While medical surveys may not always pay at the same rate as your clinical work, their appeal for many comes from the flexibility. There’s no commitment, and you can monetize your downtime at work or free time at home by jumping online to contribute your expertise. While there’s no guaranteed amount of work, we had heard from some members of our online physician community who have made multiple five figure amounts a year with this side gig.


This side gig can be a great potential fit for attending physicians working on building up their practice. Signing up for multiple survey companies can increase your ability to find opportunities and thus your earnings potential. Note that residents and fellows are typically not eligible for most surveys.


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Pharmaceutical speaking


Speaking is another classic side gig for doctors, and pharmaceutical speaking offers cardiologists a unique opportunity to share their clinical expertise in a new setting and get paid relatively well for doing so. This side gig is a great fit for physicians who don’t mind public speaking, like to teach and share their opinions, and for those who hope to network and collaborate with others. 


Given the regulations in pharma, these speaking engagements are typically structured around approved content and pharmaceutical companies have guidelines that speakers must follow. This can actually reduce some of the opportunity cost of engaging in this type of speaking over other paid speaking engagements, as the company who hires you will typically provide you the approved talking points, cutting down on the preparation required, and help handle arrangements for you. The caveat here is that pay is often restricted as well to ensure it’s comparable to fair market value, so you might not be able to earn as much as you could with a speaking engagement in a different industry.


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Clinical research


Clinical research offers a meaningful way for cardiologists to contribute to the advancement of research and provide novel approaches to help patients in need of additional therapeutic options, while providing an ancillary income stream for you or your private practice. A side gig as a principal investigator or a sub-investigator can provide substantial income while providing options and potential life-changing outcomes for your patients.


While clinical research is often conducted at academic institutions, there are opportunities to establish a clinical trial site at your practice. Interest in establishing research at private practice has been increasing globally as research aims to include a more diverse patient population and variety of cases. For physicians who aren’t in private practice but are interested in clinical research, opportunities also exist with third-party independent research companies as a clinical research physician. When employed by a company, you may be assigned as the principal investigator or sub-investigator for an established research site they manage.


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Remote reads for cardiac exams and imaging (EKGs, echos, nuclear stress tests, coronary CTAs, and cardiac MRI)


As the volume of diagnostic testing increases across the board and the settings in which imaging takes place increase, there are more and more companies looking to contract with physicians who can provide interpretations. Cardiologists are often asked to provide remote testing interpretations for urgent cares, emergency departments, hospital systems, or private practices or other health care settings such as employee health clinics.  This can offer a flexible side gig opportunity for cardiologists, as work can typically be performed remotely from the comfort of your home or in your spare time between patients as you build up your practice. This side gig can often be taken on as paid in a per-study capacity, allowing you to do as high or low of a volume of work as desired. As compensation per study varies per type of study and per company, and as each cardiologist reads at a different speed, it’s hard to speculate on how much you can make.


Note that you typically need to be licensed in the state where the service was provided. 




Locums or moonlighting


If you enjoy the clinical setting and are looking for a side gig primarily to earn additional income, locums and moonlighting opportunities typically offer the most comparable pay to clinical salaries for cardiologists. We found when looking at the average hourly locums rate by specialty that cardiologists on average earn around $275/hour (though note, we always recommend comparing apples to apples to make sure you are not undervaluing yourself for your specific situation, as many factors go into determining rates). Picking up moonlighting or locums gigs can offer more guaranteed income versus other side gigs if you have the spare time to commit to picking up shifts (and you are okay with doing more clinical work in your free time).


As an aside, locums and moonlighting can offer the opportunity to try working in a different environment or in a different role if you’re looking for a change of pace from your regular job.


These opportunities can vary in terms of length and commitment. It could be as casual as picking up occasional extra moonlighting shifts on a per diem basis, or be a short term commitment to staff a particular temporary shortage at a group, or even be a multi-month or year relationship with regular commitments to work for a week or two a time every month. Take the time to explore opportunities and find what suits you, your goals, and your level of commitment to pursuing locums.


While many locums opportunities offer some sort of malpractice coverage, a reminder to always check. Your policy at work likely doesn’t cover locums or moonlight elsewhere, so you want to make sure you’re covered. If the company you’re working for or the hospital you’re contracting with directly doesn’t offer coverage, you may need to purchase your own policy to cover your side gig work. Visit our medical malpractice insurance page for more info and resources if needed.


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Telemedicine


Telemedicine continues to grow in popularity for physicians and patients alike for the flexibility it provides outside of a traditional clinical setting. Telemedicine opportunities exist for cardiologists both in direct patient care and for second opinion work.


Opportunities exist to schedule telemedicine appointments outside of your regular clinic hours and on weekends if you’re looking to add additional income above your full-time role. Some telemedicine companies have a minimum hour requirement to work with them, but it can be as low as a few hours a month, depending on the platform. There are also opportunities to set up your own telemedicine platform to see existing patients or to expand your patient roster.


Compensation rates and structures vary depending on the type of work (real time versus asynchronous), the employment type (employee, self-employed, 1099 contractor), and the company’s preference (some pay per hour while others pay per visit). Rates and responsibilities can vary greatly depending on the opportunity, so carefully vet every opportunity you consider.


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Chart review and expert witness work


These are other side gigs that allow cardiologists to utilize their clinical expertise outside of the clinical setting. These opportunities typically involve reviewing medical records for groups such as insurance companies, law firms, and utilization review companies. There is also variation in roles within these categories depending on your specific interest or desired niche. 


Some examples include:

  • Disability or workers’ compensation

  • Independent medical evaluations (IMEs)

  • Expert witness work

  • Utilization management work


These opportunities vary in terms of time commitment and pay. While chart review can be a lucrative side gig for cardiologists, it may not pay at a scale similar to your clinical work, like locum tenens can. On the other hand, expert witness work often pays at higher than your hourly rate as a physician.


Some chart review can be done remotely, while others may have some in-person component, such as a physical examination, deposition, or testimony. While in-person components can require more considerations in terms of scheduling, in general these opportunities can offer a high level of flexibility, allowing you to take as many or as few cases as you’d like.


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Consulting and startup advising


Consulting is always a popular side gig in our online physician community, and cardiologists are no exception. Similar to some of the other side gigs mentioned here, it offers flexibility and allows you to work based on your existing skill set as a physician. While niche consulting opportunities requiring expert knowledge, experience, or credentials may exist, many cardiologists find that all they need is their medical degree. Many physicians also love it because it gives you a voice in the future of healthcare innovation.


Consulting opportunities range in time and commitment. They can be one-time opportunities to provide your expert opinion on the latest drug or medical device in development, or longer opportunities to consult a company or a healthcare startup. 


Consulting tends to pay well, and startups may offer equity in the company as part of their compensation for holding an advisory position, which has the potential to pay even larger dividends over time.


Some opportunities are available remotely, while others prefer to have you engaging personally with their product and/or team.


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Influencer, media expert, or brand ambassador


Heart health and longevity are all the rage these days, offering lots of opportunities for brand partnerships. Patients and companies alike are looking for physicians who can help provide credible information about products and services out there in the market, or just good educational content. Many physicians have built up substantial social media followings and get approached by brands who want to partner with them in these endeavors. We regularly have people contact us through our side gigs matching services looking for physicians to partner with.


While this side gig can take a lot of effort to monetize, and the pathway is a lot less straightforward and guaranteed than some of the others, it offers amazing scale if you hit the right combination of good content and luck. Many successful influencers are able to monetize their followings in various ways, including product sales, podcast sponsors, blogs, affiliate marketing, speaking gigs, brand partnerships, books, coaching, course creation, writing, and startup advisory positions.  You can weave a few together to help optimize multiple income streams, some of which can eventually be passive (although it’s far from passive at the beginning).


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Second opinion services


When facing a tough diagnosis or having a hard time making decisions about treatment plans, patients may want a second (or third) opinion before proceeding with their currently recommended treatment plan. Second opinion work can be rewarding to both you and the patients, allowing you to utilize the skillset you already use day-to-day in your clinical role to bring peace of mind or alternative options to patients who aren’t sure what the best path forward is.


This side gig offers flexibility, with many consults available via telemedicine and scheduling available around clinical hours. Some cases, however, may be time sensitive, which is a consideration to take into account when developing your schedule.



Additional side hustle resources for cardiologists


While we’ve outlined above some common side gig ideas for cardiologists, there’s always room for creativity. If there’s something you’re passionate about and good at, look for ways to monetize it.


Dive deeper into some of the side gigs featured above, including:


Need inspiration? Join our Physician Side Gigs Facebook group and ask other cardiologists what they’ve enjoyed as their side gig.


You can also explore the following to learn more about our:


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