The General Surgery Rate & Negotiation Toolkit
Know your number before you call back.
The market benchmark. Your assignment-adjusted target. Your walkaway—plus the scripts and assignment playbook to use them.
Get the Toolkit — $992026 Edition · 46–48 pages · Instant download · No subscription.
One underpriced shift can cost more than this toolkit. A $10/hr improvement on one 10-hour shift covers the $99 cost.
Built by a U.S. general surgery physician. No staffing agency affiliation. No referral fees.
Preview the actual guide
See exactly what you're buying.
The sample contains three pages drawn directly from this specialty's 2026 toolkit: the cover, the actual national and regional benchmark page, and a specialty-specific leverage page.
Open the three-page sample →No email required. Real toolkit pages—not a separate brochure.
Market Snapshot
Is your current rate above or below the median? The full 50-state breakdown is in the toolkit.
Built for the decision in front of you
Use the same toolkit at three high-stakes moments.
First locum assignment
Use a clear path through the interview, credentialing, first shift, assignment problems, and exit.
Offer or contract in hand
Set the counter, use the exact language, and review the terms before the assignment becomes expensive to unwind.
Current assignment or renewal
Recalculate the effective rate, identify work creep, and rewrite the terms that mattered in practice.
What's Inside
A complete assignment toolkit:
- Rate Benchmark Database
General Surgery rates by state and setting — urban hospital and rural/critical access — at the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile. Fifty states. The number you need before you call the recruiter back.
- Recruiter Call Scripts
Word-for-word. The exact sentences:
- The opening anchor when you've received a below-market offer
- The counter when they say "this is our standard rate"
- The intangibles trade when the hourly is locked (stipends, call structure, tail coverage)
- The leverage script for 24-hour call and weekend surgical coverage
- The renewal script when they try to roll your old rate forward
- General Surgery Leverage Points
The specific GS credentials and coverage capabilities that justify a higher rate:
- Endoscopy capability (EGD and colonoscopy) is near-required at rural CAH assignments and doubles the revenue you generate at a small facility — price it separately from base surgical coverage
- ATLS certification expands rural eligibility to Level III/IV trauma activation coverage, which carries a separate rate premium
- 24-hour call coverage ($3,800–5,500/day) is the most underpriced line item in most GS locum contracts — negotiate it as a separate line item from the hourly rate
- Robotic surgery certification (da Vinci) is the expected standard at urban assignments — confirm equipment availability and case mix before committing
- Contract Red Flag Checklist
Daily minimum guarantee, call compensation, malpractice tail, non-compete language, and OR case-mix expectations. One page, annotated. Open it while reviewing any contract.
- Agency Markup Framework
The math behind what the hospital actually pays for your shift. A rural surgeon generates approximately $2.7M in annual hospital revenue. The agency bill rate reflects that value; your negotiated rate should too.
- Locum Tax Framework
The 1099 math most surgeons undercount: the S-corp threshold, the Solo 401(k) gap, and the minimum premium required to break even against a W-2 employed rate.
- Licensing & Credentialing Roadmap
The licenses, registrations, facility privileges, documents, start gates, and timelines required for the assignment.
- From Signed Contract to Final Shift
A specialty-specific first-shift gate, assignment escalation scripts, a stay/pause/leave framework, and a final-shift checklist.
What It Looks Like on the Call
When a recruiter quotes $238/hr for a rural CAH general surgery assignment in Texas, this is the sentence from Section 2:
"The market median for rural critical access general surgery in Texas is $248/hr, with the 75th percentile near $289/hr. I cover endoscopy and hold ATLS, which expands the assignment scope. I'd expect to be in the $275–295 range. Is there flexibility to get there before we discuss scheduling?"
You change the numbers to match your state. You say it. That is the product.
Who Built This
For years I took every rate I was offered without pushing back. Not because I was naive. I did not have the data to know whether I should. Neither did anyone I trained with.
I built the same rate model and negotiation framework across 22 physician specialties, then added the contract, credentialing, first-shift, and assignment protections I would want before accepting the work myself.
The agency has this organized. Now you do too.
Built on Evidence, Written for the Call
The toolkit combines 50-state benchmark data, specialty-specific assignment research, current licensing and tax guidance, and 17 peer-reviewed negotiation sources. The research establishes the framework; the product gives you the number, language, and checklists to act on it.
What $99 Has to Do
One $10/hr improvement on one 10-hour shift covers the full price. One avoided unpaid hour can do the same. Every protected shift, corrected contract term, or future renewal comes after that.
46–48-page PDF · Instant download · No subscription.
One Honest Limitation
This will not help you if you are already negotiating above the 75th percentile for your specialty and state. If you don't know what percentile your current rate is, that is the problem this solves.
About the Data
Based on BLS OEWS public data and CMS geographic adjustment factors, processed through a locum-adjusted model, calibrated and validated against publicly posted rates and observations.