Know your number before you call back.

What's Inside

A complete assignment toolkit:

1. Rate Benchmark Database

   Pathology 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.

2. 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 frozen section differentiation script — intraoperative coverage is a different service, not "general pathology"
   • The lab medical director unbundling script — confirm whether directorship is in scope and at what separate rate
   • The case volume cap script — confirm the daily ceiling before accepting any high-volume surgical pathology assignment
3. Pathology Leverage Points

   The specific credentials and coverage capabilities that justify a higher rate:

   • Case volume cap is the most important quality-of-life clause in any pathology locum contract — high-volume surgical programs can generate 40–70 cases per day without a defined ceiling. The cap is the deal, not the rate
   • Subspecialty sign-out capability (GI pathology, gynecologic pathology, hematopathology) commands 20–30% above general pathology rates — these are distinct credentialing categories and should always be stated explicitly
   • Frozen section coverage for surgical programs is the highest-premium on-site pathology service — remote telepathology cannot substitute for intraoperative reads, and that is your negotiating position
   • Lab medical director responsibilities embedded in a locum contract are a separate job with CAP/Joint Commission regulatory liability. Negotiate a separate daily or monthly medical director stipend — most facilities will agree when asked directly
4. Contract Red Flag Checklist

   Case volume not capped, lab medical director bundled at pathology rate, autopsy obligation undefined, subspecialty sign-out scope not specified, and telepathology infrastructure not confirmed. One page, annotated. Open it while reviewing any contract.

5. Agency Markup Framework

   The math behind what the hospital actually pays for your coverage. High-volume surgical pathology generates substantial downstream revenue — specimen billing, molecular testing, and frozen section professional fees. When you know the approximate bill rate, "that's our maximum" means something different.

6. Locum Tax Framework

   The 1099 math most pathologists undercount: the S-corp threshold, the Solo 401(k) gap, and the minimum premium required to break even against a W-2 employed rate.

7. Licensing & Credentialing Roadmap

   The licenses, registrations, facility privileges, documents, start gates, and timelines required for the assignment.

8. 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 $330/hr for an on-site surgical pathology assignment that includes frozen section coverage and lab medical director responsibilities, this is the sentence from Section 2:

"The market median for general pathology in this region is $357/hr. This assignment includes frozen section coverage, which is a different service from routine sign-out — I'd expect to be in the $390–420 range for a role that includes intraoperative coverage. I'd also want to confirm whether lab medical director responsibilities are in scope and what the separate rate is for those. And before we finalize, what is the daily case volume cap? Can we 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.

— General Surgery MD

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.

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.