The Hematology-Oncology 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
Hematology-Oncology rates by state and setting — urban cancer center and rural community hospital — 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 BMT/transplant differentiation script — program-level coverage is a separate credentialing category
- The daily consult cap script — confirm the ceiling before you accept any inpatient assignment
- The infusion oversight scope script — confirm what's expected before quoting a rate
- Hematology-Oncology Leverage Points
The specific credentials and coverage capabilities that justify a higher rate:
- BMT and stem cell transplant program coverage requires subspecialty credentialing most hem-onc physicians don't hold — it commands 20–30% above the general rate and is rarely priced without being explicitly stated
- Combined inpatient consult plus infusion oversight is a dual-scope arrangement that should be priced as a bundled premium, not add-ons to a general rate
- Rural hem-onc rates ($413/hr national median) consistently exceed urban rates ($395/hr) — one of the few specialties where rural demand structurally outpaces urban
- Daily consult cap is the most important quality-of-life clause in any inpatient oncology contract — confirm and cap the ceiling before signing
- Contract Red Flag Checklist
Daily consult volume cap, hematologic emergency call expectations, EMR/CPOE system compatibility, malpractice tail scope for chemotherapy complications, and infusion protocol authority. One page, annotated. Open it while reviewing any contract.
- Agency Markup Framework
The math behind what the hospital actually pays for your shift. Rural cancer centers cannot bill for infusion services without physician coverage. When you know the approximate bill rate, "that's our maximum" means something different.
- Locum Tax Framework
The 1099 math most oncologists 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 $355/hr for a rural community cancer center covering inpatient consults and infusion oversight, this is the sentence from Section 2:
"The market median for combined rural hem-onc inpatient and infusion coverage in the South is $395/hr. Given the combined scope — inpatient consults plus infusion protocol oversight — I'd expect to be in the $420–440 range, and I'd want to confirm a daily consult ceiling before we discuss scheduling. Is there flexibility to structure it that way?"
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.