AI, reimbursements, lawsuits, and packed schedules have monumentally altered the field of rheumatology. With new demands and opportunities on the horizon, more and more doctors are seeking work beyond their primary clinical duties. The demands of being a full-time clinician, complete with malpractice insurance requirements, benefits negotiations, and inflexible schedules, have prompted many to seek alternatives that offer both supplemental income and greater autonomy.
Doctors across specialties are finding that side gigs offer more than just extra revenue.They provide professional growth, intellectual stimulation, and the chance to leverage hard-earned expertise in meaningful ways while maintaining a flexible schedule.
For rheumatologists specifically, the combination of specialized knowledge in complex biologics, chronic disease management, and multisystem inflammatory conditions creates unique opportunities in healthcare that are both intellectually rewarding and financially lucrative. This article examines how rheumatology professionals can leverage their expertise to generate income beyond conventional patient care.
Why do rheumatologists seek a side gig?
The field of rheumatology continues to grow in complexity and demand, which explains why many in this specialty are actively pursuing side gigs. Physician polling on Sermo shows that 46% of physicians currently have a passive income source. When asked about the benefits of a side hustle, 41% cited earning extra income as the primary motivation, followed by improving their skill set (21%), expanding their network (17%), and building a reputation (12%).
Income goals vary widely among surveyed physicians, with 40% targeting modest returns under $1,000 annually, while 10% aim for $50,000 or more, demonstrating that side gigs can range from supplemental pocket money to substantial second incomes.
Below are some factors that may push rheumatologists specifically to seek a side income:
Administrative burnout from biologics
Managing complex Prior Authorizations (PAs) for expensive, necessary biologic therapies consumes an excessive amount of unreimbursed time and contributes heavily to burnout. Rheumatologists spend countless hours navigating insurance requirements for medications that can cost tens of thousands of dollars annually. The administrative burden of justifying these treatments, appealing denials, and coordinating care creates a frustrating disconnect between clinical expertise and bureaucratic demands. This unreimbursed work extends well beyond patient visits, eating into personal time and eroding professional satisfaction.
Cognitive load and chronic care
Managing highly complex, chronic, and multi-system inflammatory diseases requires intense cognitive effort and long patient encounters, often without adequate reimbursement commensurate with the complexity. Rheumatologists regularly diagnose and treat conditions affecting multiple organ systems, requiring a deep understanding of immunology, pharmacology, and internal medicine.
Unlike procedural specialties, where specific interventions are clearly reimbursed, the intellectual work of managing patients with lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or vasculitis is often undervalued in current payment models.
Monetizing expertise in specialty drugs
Rheumatologists have extensive knowledge of biologics, biosimilars, and novel immunomodulatory therapies. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies actively seek this expertise during drug development, clinical trials, and market access strategies. This specialized knowledge becomes a valuable asset in biologics consulting roles. Expertise in the highly specialized and expensive therapeutics market is critical for pharmaceutical companies, making their consulting fees high.
Financial disparity
Compared with procedural specialists, rheumatologists often earn less, needing external income to meet larger financial goals. Rheumatology involves extensive training and complex patient care, but reimbursement rates are usually lower than surgical specialties. This drives many rheumatologists to seek additional revenue streams.
Whether working full-time at a hospital, medical center, or clinic within a medical group, healthcare professionals are finding that traditional employment models no longer meet their professional and financial needs.
The struggle for work-life balance while maintaining financial stability resonates across specialties. As one otolaryngologist shares on Sermo: “It’s hard for me to get a good work-life balance, I got my shift at the hospital and private practice so I spend all week working all day and half day on Saturdays, and that seems to be the case for most doctors.” An anesthesiologist echoes similar concerns: “I spend all day in the operating room! My life is reduced to only 20% for my hobbies, family, and duties.”
Yet despite these challenges, physicians recognize the importance of maintaining perspective. A family medicine doctor notes: “Although it is sometimes difficult, you have to try to leave time for family and friends, even if it means losing money.”
These sentiments resonate strongly within rheumatology, where the demands are equally intense but compensation may not match the effort.
8 Side gigs for rheumatologists in 2026
Rheumatologists have access to a rapidly increasing number of ways to leverage their expertise beyond traditional clinical practice. Below are a few key options to consider:
Sermo paid medical surveys
Sermo offers rheumatologists one of the most direct paths into a side income through paid medical surveys. A Sermo poll reveals that 33% of physicians have participated in medical surveys as a side gig, making it the most popular option.
Medical surveys gather expert opinions on treatment protocols, emerging therapies, medications, and clinical experiences. A key benefit of this side hustle lies in its flexibility; rheumatologists can complete surveys during brief breaks between patients, while traveling, or during downtime at home.
Compensation varies based on survey length and complexity, but the work requires minimal time commitment and zero startup costs. Rheumatologists’ surveys often focus on biologic therapies, autoimmune disease management, and treatment outcomes, making them particularly relevant to daily practice.
Tele-rheumatology
Remote rheumatology is a rapidly growing field that enables rheumatologists to provide consultations, follow-up care, and medication management via digital platforms. The Sermo survey found that 11% of physicians have provided telemedicine as a side gig.
Because rheumatic diseases present chronic symptoms, many patients require regular medication adjustments, laboratory review, and symptom monitoring rather than physical examinations. Tele-rheumatology offers a flexible schedule that traditional clinic-based medicine cannot match, allowing physicians to work from home and increasing patient access to care, especially in rural areas.
Unlike traditional clinic work, which requires malpractice insurance tied to a specific location and the overhead of maintaining physical space, remote rheumatology often involves lower insurance requirements and minimal infrastructure. Many clinicians find that telemedicine provides an ideal balance, maintaining connection to medicine and patient care while enjoying the autonomy and flexibility that traditional healthcare employment often lacks.
Establishing an infusion center in your practice
Establishing an infusion center in a U.S. rheumatology practice typically incurs upfront costs of $10,000 to $15,000 for basic equipment and supplies, with total expenses rising to $45,000 or more due to space modifications, staffing, and state-specific build-outs.
Many biologic therapies for rheumatic diseases require intravenous administration, and by providing these services in-house, rheumatologists get paid for technical and professional consultations while improving patient convenience. The infrastructure requires space, nursing staff, infusion equipment, and medication management systems, but the recurring revenue from regular infusion patients creates a stable income stream. This model also enhances patient care by allowing closer monitoring of therapy, immediate management of infusion reactions, and better coordination with pharmacy services.
Rheumatology expert witness work
Serving as a rheumatology expert witness provides one of the most lucrative side gig opportunities available to specialists. Attorneys in medical malpractice, personal injury, and disability cases frequently need expert opinions on rheumatic disease diagnosis, treatment standards, and causation.
Rheumatologists command average physician expert witness rates around $450 per hour, with experienced experts earning significantly more. The work involves reviewing medical records, providing written reports, and occasionally testifying in depositions or trials. While building a reputation in legal consulting takes time and networking, rheumatologists with strong communication skills and solid clinical credentials can develop steady referral streams from law firms.
Rheumatology consulting
10% of surveyed physicians on Sermo have already spoken at events as a side gig. Biologics consulting for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies represents another high-value side gig for rheumatologists. Companies developing new therapies for autoimmune diseases seek clinical input on trial design, patient selection criteria, outcome measures, and real-world effectiveness.
Consulting work involves advisory board participation, manuscript review, educational presentations, or strategic guidance on market access. Rheumatologists with academic profiles, publications, or specialized expertise in specific disease states are particularly attractive to industry. Compensation for biologics consulting varies widely but typically ranges from several hundred to over a thousand dollars per hour, depending on the scope of work and the consultant’s credentials.
Clinical research
Participating in clinical research allows rheumatologists to contribute to medical advancement while generating additional income. This might involve serving as a principal investigator for pharmaceutical-sponsored trials, conducting investigator-initiated research, or working with contract research organizations. Clinical trials in rheumatology are abundant, given the expansive pipeline of biologic and small-molecule therapies in development. Research work provides skillset growth, early access to promising therapies for patients, and revenue from per-patient enrollment fees and study procedures.
Rheumatology medical writing
Medical writing encompasses a broad range of opportunities, including journal articles, continuing medical education content, patient education materials, review articles, and pharmaceutical communications. Sermo’s poll shows that 12% of physicians have participated in medical writing as a side hustle. Rheumatologists with strong writing skills can contribute to peer-reviewed journals, create educational content for professional organizations, or develop materials for pharmaceutical marketing.
As one rheumatologist notes on Sermo, “It is a great pleasure to write some comments or essays to local journals.” Writing projects can be completed entirely on one’s own schedule. Compensation varies from a few hundred dollars for patient brochures to several thousand for comprehensive review articles or CME modules.
Online CME course creator
14% of surveyed physicians have contributed to a community as a side hustle. Creating continuing medical education courses focused on inflammatory disorders allows rheumatologists to share expertise while generating passive income. Online CME platforms and healthcare associations constantly seek expert-developed content on topics like biologic therapy selection, managing difficult-to-treat rheumatic diseases, and new therapeutic approaches. Course creation requires a small upfront investment of money and time to develop presentations, record lectures, and create assessment questions, but once published, courses can generate recurring revenue for years. The key to success lies in identifying knowledge gaps, creating engaging presentations, and marketing courses effectively to target audiences.
The diversity of opportunities hasn’t gone unnoticed by specialists already in the field. One rheumatologist enthusiastically shares: “I have so many side hustles I can’t keep track.”
Sermo paid medical surveys as a means to reach your goals
Among the various rheumatology side gigs available, Sermo paid medical surveys are one of the most easily accessible and represent consistent income potential. Unlike consulting work or expert witness roles that require extensive networking and reputation building, Sermo surveys are immediately available to verified physicians.
The supplemental income from regularly completing surveys may seem modest on an individual basis, but it accumulates steadily over time and can grow with the right investment strategy. For rheumatologists balancing demanding clinical schedules, this represents ideal passive income that requires no additional overhead, staff, or infrastructure.
More importantly, the supplemental income from Sermo surveys can serve as seed capital for larger professional goals. Many physicians use survey earnings to offset costs of continuing education, fund professional certifications, or invest in practice improvements. For early-career rheumatologists carrying substantial student loan debt, every dollar of additional income accelerates financial freedom. Mid-career physicians might redirect survey income toward retirement accounts, savings goals, or real estate investments.
Sermo paid medical surveys also provide an entry point for physicians exploring whether side gigs align with their lifestyle and goals. The flexibility to complete surveys during unexpected free time, waiting for patients, during lunch breaks, or in the evening, makes this side hustle uniquely adaptable to unpredictable clinical schedules.
Rheumatology side gigs: ready to get started?
The patient care, administrative, and regulatory demands of modern rheumatology have led many to seek high-value side gigs and alternative career options, particularly in biologics and legal industries. Rheumatologists possess expertise that pharmaceutical companies, law firms, research organizations, and educational institutions are actively seeking out and compensating generously.
Whether through biologics consulting, serving as expert witnesses at competitive physician expert witness rates, participating in utilization review, or engaging in remote rheumatology work, these opportunities allow rheumatologists to combat administrative fatigue while achieving financial autonomy.
The burden of managing complex biologic therapies and undervalued reimbursement models has made rheumatology side gigs more necessary for satisfaction and security. By leveraging expertise outside the clinic, rheumatologists can regain control, reduce burnout, and diversify income for both immediate and long-term stability.
For rheumatologists considering this path, the Sermo community offers an invaluable resource for peer support, opportunity sharing, and practical guidance. Connect with colleagues who have successfully navigated side gig opportunities, learn from their experiences, and discover which paths align best with your skills and goals.
Start your first paid medical survey today. Join a global community of physicians who have discovered that sharing your clinical expertise through surveys not only generates meaningful income but also contributes to important research and healthcare innovation.
