Unlike a medical or law degree, an MBA degree does not train someone to practice a professional trade.  And while the former degrees in theory do not guarantee someone a job, having legal or medical training allows one to get licensed and ultimately practice those professions.  The same is not true of an MBA.  The MBA is a professional degree but there is no license necessary to use your MBA.  An MBA does not guarantee someone a job and there are many physicians who have an MBA who continue to practice medicine and never utilize their degree.  

While obtaining an MBA does not guarantee a job, it can be helpful to those physicians who seek nonclinical roles.  As healthcare reimbursements shrink and healthcare organizations become increasingly complex, more physician executives will be necessary to help manage these organizations.  An MBA can be  helpful for those physicians who seek positions such as a medical director, department chair, chief quality and patient safety officer, chief medical information officer and especially a chief executive officer.  In the past it was not necessary for physicians to have an MBA credential for these roles but it is now becoming increasingly more common, if not required, for candidates for these jobs to have an MBA or other management degree.

An MBA degree is also helpful for those physicians who would like to transition into the insurance and pharmaceutical industry.  Obtaining an MBA from a top tier school can also be helpful for those doctors who would like to work on wall street.  Finally, some doctors who wish to become entrepreneurs obtain an MBA.  Many will argue however that an MBA is not necessary to become an entrepreneur.

The cost of an MBA varies widely by the format and the reputation of the school.  The tuition for some of the top full-time MBA programs such as Wharton and Stanford is in the range of $60-70,000 per year. Note that these are just tuition costs and with other expenses added in, the cost can rise to just over $100,000 a year.  Some of the top executive MBA programs such as Wharton, Kellogg and Columbia cost just below $200,000.  This price usually includes everything including two years of tuition, books, supplies  and hotel rooms for those that travel from out-of-town.  The only thing typically not included is airfare and train tickets if these are needed expenses.  

There are less expensive options out there including general online programs and physician executive MBA (PEMBA) programs.  One of the highest ranked general online programs is run by the Keenan-Flagler School of business at the UNC Chapel Hill.  The complete program costs around $100,000 dollars.  UMass Amherst has an online program which is jointly sponsored with other organizations including the American Association for Physician Leadership and the Radiology Leadership Institute of the American College of Radiology that can be completed completely online and costs between $20,000-30,000 for the entire program. The Kelley School of Business of Indiana University has an online program that costs around $60,000 for the entire program.  Kelley also has a PEMBA program that costs around $60-70,000 dollars plus travel expenses for the entire two year program.  The University of Tennessee has a PEMBA program that can be completed in one year and costs around $77,000 dollars plus travel expenses.  Other reasonably priced PEMBA programs include Auburn which costs around $65,000 plus travel expenses and UT Dallas, which costs around $50,000 plus travel expenses.is in 

These are just a sampling of the prices for the various MBA formats and representative schools.  Every physician is in a unique financial situation and has their own career goals and should decide what they feel comfortable spending before taking the MBA plunge.

​Many physicians wish to when the best time to pursue an MBA is.  However, there is no one right time.  Some physicians pursue an MBA during medical school or shortly thereafter.  These are often traditional MBA programs or combined MD/MBA programs.  The downside to this approach is that these physicians often have no real work experience and having work experience is often very helpful in applying the knowledge that you receive from an MBA.  This option may be particularly attractive to those medical students who do not plan on practicing medicine.  However, many physicians who pursue an MBA during medical school or immediately thereafter do ultimately go on to pursue residency training.
 
Many physicians seek an MBA after practicing for a while.  These physicians have work experience which is helpful in applying the theoretical knowledge of an MBA.  Pursuing an MBA at this career stage has some advantages.  Many physicians at this stage of their career have accumulated the necessary money to self-fund an MBA.  For those that work for organizations, there are often tuition reimbursement programs.  Finally, some organizations will provide full or partial sponsorship for an MBA program.  Most physicians who attend an MBA at this stage of their career opt to pursue either an online, executive or physician MBA program which allows the physician to continue clinical work while pursuing an MBA.