The Neurology 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
Neurology rates by state and setting — urban hospital and rural/critical access — at the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile. Fifty states. Includes stroke center type premium data and telestroke contract rate ranges.
- Recruiter Call Scripts
Word-for-word. The exact sentences:
- The opening anchor when you've received a below-market offer
- The vascular neurology premium script — how to price stroke certification value explicitly
- The telestroke hybrid script for facilities offering remote coverage arrangements
- The counter when they say "this is our neurology standard rate"
- The leverage script for Appalachian and Deep South stroke desert assignments
- The renewal script when they try to roll your old rate forward
- Neurology Leverage Points
The specific neurology credentials and coverage capabilities that justify a higher rate:
- Vascular neurology board certification commands 20–25% above the general neurology rate at Joint Commission stroke centers — this premium is consistent and real, but it is not priced automatically
- Joint Commission's 4-tier certification system creates tiered demand; higher certification requires more neurologist coverage hours, and the rate premium increases with certification level
- Neurocritical care capability pushes rates to $267–289/hr at academic and tertiary centers — a distinct coverage tier from general neurology locum placements
- EEG reading and epilepsy monitoring capability expands assignment eligibility beyond acute stroke to epilepsy monitoring units — a separate billable service that should be priced separately
- Contract Red Flag Checklist
Stroke activation response time, call volume without census ceiling, telestroke technology provision, weekend differential language, and tPA liability coverage scope. Response time expectations are the clause most likely to cause post-signing disputes. One page, annotated.
- Agency Markup Framework
Neurology locum coverage carries high agency margins because the specialty pool is small. Understanding the bill rate structure changes how you respond to rate ceilings.
- Locum Tax Framework
The 1099 math: S-corp threshold, Solo 401(k) gap, and the effective net rate after malpractice and tax in the highest-paying states for neurology coverage.
- 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 $208/hr for a stroke center assignment in the South, this is the sentence from Section 2:
"The regional neurology median for stroke center coverage is $225/hr. I'm vascular neurology boarded, which at a Joint Commission-certified stroke center typically commands 20–25% above the general neurology rate. I'd expect to be in the $265–275 range for this type of assignment. Is there flexibility before we get into logistics?"
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.