Escaping Physician Exploitation: Private Practice, Pay Transparency, and Entrepreneurship with Dr. Brian Dixon

How I Doctor with Dr. Graham Walker

Dr. Brian Dixon is a psychiatrist, entrepreneur, and one of the boldest physician voices pushing for salary transparency and fairness in medicine. He’s the founder of Simply Psych and Mindful, and he’s built his career by pulling back the curtain on contracts, compensation, and the hidden math of how health systems profit off physicians. With radical honesty, he shares not just his wins but also his mistakes—showing doctors the real trade-offs between employment, private practice, and entrepreneurship.

On this episode of How I Doctor, Dr. Graham Walker talks with Brian about why most contracts are designed to exploit physicians, how transparency builds trust, and what it really takes to scale a practice without burning out. They dig into the myths that keep doctors underpaid, the psychological traps that make us easy to exploit, and the lessons Brian had to buy - sometimes for $50,000 - that can save you from the same fate. If you’ve ever wondered how to get paid fairly and keep your autonomy intact, this is the conversation you’ve been waiting for.

If you’ve ever looked at your paycheck and wondered, “Is this really what I’m worth?”—this episode will change how you see employment, private practice, and the business of medicine.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why the salary you’re offered is rarely the salary you’re actually worth—and how employers frame the numbers against you.
• How the culture of altruism in medicine gets exploited, leading doctors to accept less than they deserve.
• The three true career paths for physicians (employee, owner, or hybrid) and how to think about risk versus autonomy.
• Why employed physicians today may face more risk than independent ones—and how non-competes and contract language trap doctors.
• How to scale a private practice the right way so you don’t burn out trying to do everything yourself.

Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for supporting the podcast:

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