9 Most Lucrative Paid Medical Surveys
Taking paid medical surveys in your area of expertise is an easy way to earn some extra cash. Joining the right paid physician survey panels is not as easy.
Featured Healthcare Panels in this Article
Online Medical Surveys That Pay Physicians Cash
Finding paid medical survey panels where you can respond to questions related to your area of medical expertise – all online and on your terms – sounds almost too good to be true. Like, late-night infomercial level of ‘too good to be true.'
However, for healthcare professionals, joining medical market research survey panels can be a totally viable way to earn extra money, at or above your normal pay rate.
It can also be an ideal way for all types of clinician to supplement their income. While specialists like oncologists will likely earn the most from paid medical surveys, other specialists & healthcare providers can do quite well, too.
Most (if not all) of these paid survey opportunities need physician respondents, and this will always be true.
Medical surveys – paid medical surveys – specifically, are now available to more healthcare professionals than ever. Industry increasingly recognizes the importance of PAs, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and others as integral members of the healthcare team.
Because these clinicians aren't going anywhere, the smart companies want to leverage their opinions, too.
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Finding the Top Paid Medical Survey Panels
The problem you might run into is the volume of potential paid medical survey panels to join. You could sign up for all of them, but not all are worth your time. We'll show you which we trust and believe would be a good use of your time and effort.
So before you shotgun your email address across the industry, let's first take a look at some of the most popular paid medical market research survey panels around.
Our top 6 recommendations are listed below, based on a few factors discussed later. There are several more panels further along in the article, too.
- All Global Circle
- InCrowd
- OpinionSite
- M3 Global Research
- MDForLives
- New panel: M-Panels
- New feature: M3 Global Research Dashboard – check surveys without logging in or registering first
Physician Survey Panels Worth Your Time
We both value our time quite highly, you and I, being the busy healthcare professionals we are. With that in mind, just how can we determine which healthcare survey panels are actually worth joining?
First, legitimacy. Are they well-known and reliable, especially regarding payments? All of the listings here most certainly are. We've identified the specific panels on this page by working with them ourselves, so we've pre-screened out the duds for you.
Next, the amount of payment for a given unit of time. Why would a orthopod spend 20 minutes for a measly $5 when she could do a TKA for $4500 in the same amount of time?
Things like the frequency of invitations, registration bonuses, likelihood of being selected, and length of the survey vary substantially from clinician to clinician. If you think you never qualify for paid medical market research surveys, that's probably why.
Let's get to the list, then afterwards, reasons (besides extra money) to consider joining more panels, as well as potential downsides (like taxes) to consider.
Which Paid Medical Survey Panels to Join
As we said before, there are dozens of paid medical/physician survey panels you can join. The problem is that most will just collect your information and you'll never hear from them again.
Instead of wasting your time signing up for those medical survey panels, join these instead. The companies listed here are all separate entities from Modern MedEd, though we may earn compensation if you decide to join certain panels using our links.
InCrowd
InCrowd accepts all kinds of physicians, from residents to board-certified specialists. Pharmacists, dentists, PAs, NPs, and nurses are also valued here. This is one of the more user-friendly platforms out there, making them that much easier to work with.
Board-eligible or certified oncologists, rheumatologists, dermatologists, and psychiatrists will qualify for the most surveys here. Generalists, including family practitioners, hospitalists, radiologists, PAs, and NPs will also qualify for surveys here.
These paid physician surveys tend to be on the extremely short side (1 to 5 minutes) but pay relatively well ($1 to $3 per minute) and can add up quickly.
MDForLives
MDForLives is a relatively new physician market research firm seeking physicians of all specialties from around the world, specifically the USA, UK, Canada, France, Germany, India, and Italy.
MDForLives has a well-designed interface that does a good job of matching you to the paid medical surveys you’ll actually qualify for.
They do this by asking you most of the screener questions ahead of time in your profile section. It’s still on you to complete it, but they do give you $4 for taking the three minutes to fill out your profile.
You’ll need an initial minimum balance of $50 to redeem, but after that the minimum drops to just ten dollars. What were you going to do with $4 anyways?
To get you closer to the redemption threshold without any extra work, Modern MedEd has worked out a special deal with MDforLives. Join MDForLives via this link (or any other link to them from this site), and you’ll get an extra $20 sign on bonus.
Opinion Site
I signed up for OpinionSite shortly before adding this entry, and my experience has been excellent. First, I can say that I've received a ton of opportunities to earn some cash here. It seems like every day, or at least close to it, I get at least one, sometimes multiple survey invitations.
Another perk is that many of these surveys are phone surveys, which come with big honorarium energy. I'm talking $225 to $400 an hour. The day after I joined, I got this email for a $225 survey on prescribing practices. Now that's my kind of medical survey.
Join OpinionSite to share your expert feedback on new products, patient treatment trends and issues impacting the everyday lives of healthcare professionals.
- Participate in a wide array of engaging surveys and interviews
- Your personal information and privacy are fully protected at all times
- Digital payment tools provide a quick and easy way to redeem the rewards you earn for participating in research
Joining OpinionSite takes less than five minutes, and is well worth your time.
Once your membership is approved they will begin matching you with the meaningful medical research that fits your interests, with invites being sent to your inbox whenever a new research opportunity matches your profile.
Eligible healthcare professionals in the United States include:
- Nurse Practitioner (NP)
- Nursing (BSN, LPN, RN, CNA)
- Physician Assistant (PA)
- Hospital Administration
- Psychology
- Optometry
- Pharmacy
- Managed Care
- Dentistry
- Practice Management
- Dental Hygiene
- Medical Residency or Fellowship
- Veterinary Medicine
All Global Circle
All Global Circle is one of the more stringent, but definitely worthwhile, paid medical survey panels to join. That's in part because of the verification process they have in place. They take the time to really verify that only healthcare providers are allowed in.
This does mean that it may take several days to get approved, so be patient. To make up for this, they offer one of the best joining incentives, however.
They've also made it easier and faster for our readers to join and verify your clinician status in addition to offering a $25 incentive to register and verify your profile.
If you want a $25 bonus just for signing up, do so here. You'll then be taken to a page where you can enter your NPI or AMA number for verification purposes.
You do still have to be validated by All Global Circle, so be on the lookout for their email to claim your bonus.
M3 Global Research
The M3 Global Research paid medical survey panel boasts over two million clinician members and five global medical market research brands. Oncologists, neurologists, rheumatologists, urology, and surgery are the most desired at this time and will get the highest paying surveys.
Physicians from other specialties, PAs, nurse practitioners, residents, registered nurses, medical executives, and medical (PA, NP, etc) students can also join.
Of all the physician/clinician survey panels here, M3 Global Research probably does one of the best jobs of matching you to relevant surveys. That means you spend less time answering qualifying questions for surveys for which you won't be eligible. They also pay well, meaning the effort will be worth your time.
And you'll also get a $10 registration bonus just for signing up.
If you want to see what paid surveys are available without signing up, you can check out their new survey dashboard here. There are usually at least five (relatively high-paying) studies on a variety of topics and in several different formats. Even if you are already a member, you can still use this feature. To get paid, you'll have to provide some information and verify your specialty/profession after completing the study. We're really excited about this and hope it's just as beneficial for you!
M-Panels
M-Panels is another global market research survey company that offers a variety of paid medical surveys for physicians and other healthcare professionals. I've personally only done one with them, but it was a relatively painless phone interview for $210 that took no more than 40 minutes of my time. Payouts come in your choice of either an Amazon gift card or a virtual prepaid debit card.
I'll have more details soon, but for now, check out M-Panels here.
ZoomRx
ZoomRx offers quick, well-paying physician surveys; the differentiation factor here is their mobile app for android and iPhone. This lets you take paid surveys and earn cash when you'd otherwise be not making money.
Once you are verified, you'll be able to refer your colleagues and earn for each one who joins and completes a survey, just like we are here.
Choose between monthly checks in the mail or to be paid instantly via PayPal.
Join ZoomRx here.
Additional Paid Healthcare Panels
Truth On Call
Truth on Call is a medical market research firm with a straightforward approach to the way they do things.
The surveys are quick and pay well, possibly a function of their business services. With an already humongous panel, they can reach clinical audiences from general to extremely specialized.
My Medical Panel
My Medical Panel is a relatively new online medical survey panel to me. I'm registered with them and may have gotten one or two survey invitations over the last couple of months. I haven't qualified for any studies, so I have limited knowledge on their payout process.
Join My Medical Panel here, and if you do, we'd love to hear about your experience!
MNOW (Sermo)
MNOW offers extremely short surveys you can do on your walk between patients in clinic. Seriously, that short. Usually fewer than a handful of questions for a couple of bucks, but they can really add up.
Lately, they've also gotten into the longer (and higher-paying) survey market, too. You can look forward to both when you join this paid physician survey panel (PAs, NPs, and other clinicians are more than welcome, too).
Most recently, MNOW has merged with Sermo, another well-known medical market research panel.
DocThought
A branch of a consumer-focused market research firm, DocThought is also open to most healthcare professionals.
That's all I got for this one.
Benefits of Paid Survey Panels for Healthcare Professionals
Of course the money is the most obvious incentive for you to participate; however, there are more benefits than you may realize.
The freedom to participate remotely and on your terms is just one attractive characteristic of paid medical survey panels. And unlike quasi-clinical (but still important) volunteer work, such as scientific peer review, payment is expected of this interaction.
Beyond your collecting some extra cash, medical market research can be intellectually exciting. And yes, I'm serious.
The topics of focus often correspond to nascent or upcoming developments in fascinating areas of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device research. This makes involvement with these cutting edge surveys potentially insightful to the savvy clinician.
1. Supplemental Income from Paid Medical Surveys
I know we said this was obvious, but hear me out.
It's worth mentioning that membership should always be free. If it's not, think twice about joining. And if you are paying to join, then you are doing it plain wrong.
The whole point of these companies existing is to learn from you. It should almost go without saying, but they pay you in the form of a check for that privilege.
This can be especially lucrative to those in specialty areas like neurology or oncology, where industry research & development is currently hot.
2. Ensure Clinician Input for the Latest Medical Developments
As we mentioned above, participants also have the chance to shape the future of healthcare. I know it sounds cheesy, but that is literally what market research is. This is especially true for these medical market research survey panels.
Completing these projects also gives you certain insight of upcoming developments in your field. You aren’t supposed to talk about anything you see, however, so keep it to yourself!
3. Earnings from Paid Medical Surveys Have No (Additional) Reporting Requirements
Yes, your income needs to be reported to the IRS, but that's not what this is about. The specific industry source is usually blinded from participants, so certain regulations don't apply.
While I appreciate resolving possible conflicts of interest, sometimes regulators go overboard. Almost as a form of modern day capitalist public shaming, physicians and some other clinicians who receive industry income (like you know, lunch) in the United States are reported under the Sunshine Act.
It’s worth knowing that in almost all cases, market research participation does not have to be reported under these laws.
Although I’m admittedly about as good of a lawyer as I am an accountant, so take that with a pharmaceutical-grade grain of rice. We try to keep updated here, but it's impossible to know what rule or regulation will change or when, so always do your own due diligence on stuff like this.
Reasons NOT to Join Paid Medical Survey Panels
There's really no significant downside to joining any of these (or other) panels. However, there are some considerations to make when you start to engage with the surveys themselves.
Whoever said there is no such thing as a free lunch was right. Here are three reasons you may want to think twice before participating in any paid healthcare market research surveys.
1. You Will Not Earn CME Credit
Your participating in paid medical surveys is ultimately industry-sponsored. The content may be related to potentially theoretical or non approved products. Therefore, you won't be able to claim CME hours. At least, not those sweet AMA PRA Category 1 (TM) CME hours that we all want, especially come December.
You may be able to get away with claiming category 2 CME credit, but be sure to check with your credentialing body first. That's a bag of worms we aren't touching here.
2. You Are Concerned About Your Data
Data privacy is becoming a more sensitive issue in the United States. Many people are just now realizing the implications of freely divulging their mother's maiden name and listing their hometown on their social media profiles.
Of course, someone has been telling us to be careful with this since the internet was conceived, but that's beside the point.
And this isn't limited to the monolithic United States based tech companies. The same principles apply to clinicians interacting with agencies that perform medical market research with healthcare professionals.
Additionally, you never really know what the sponsor is doing with the expert information you provide. Though of course, you can simply leave the survey if your spidey-sense goes off.
Is the sponsor trying to improve patient adherence to insulin, saving countless lives? Or are they testing your tolerance to prescribe drugs that cost more than your house to save those same lives? Can they influence your prescribing habits by inserting some insidious copy?
The truth is probably a lot more pedestrian, but you get the idea. In fact, some clinicians (myself included) feel these surveys are a good chance to ensure new products have front-line clinician input.
A noble and valiant effort, indeed. However, before you get too optimistic, there is another aspect to consider.
3. It's Difficult to Budget the Extra Income
You'll never be able to plan for an invitation to a survey or how much it'll pay. And the frequency? Forget it.
Depending on your area of expertise, the frequency you receive paid medical surveys can be highly variable. If you are a member of a single medical market research panel, you may only qualify for one or two surveys a year. You likely won't earn near enough to even notice.
In other words, don't quit your day job. Currently, clinicians working in a sexy field like hematology, neurology or psychiatry are more likely to be targeted than others.
Why? That's where the you find the concentration of the research & development activity, and thus marketing dollars. Remember hepatitis C? GI folks, especially hepatologists, were probably the hottest people in the industry in the years leading up to and after the release of Sovaldi and Harvoni.
For a while, gastroenterologists weren't as sought after, but this is changing again. To maximize your potential invitations, and therefore earnings, sign up for as many of the paid medical survey panels. This increases the chances of being invited to a paid medical survey at any given time.
And while qualifying for 100% of your invitations is not realistic, here's why you may receive plenty of invites but get screened out of all of them.
4. More Money, More...Taxes
As with any activity that brings in additional income, you can’t forget good ole uncle Sam. Technically, every dollar you make in the United States has to be reported, even if you don't get a formal return to file for it.
However, once you earn a certain amount of money, generally $600 in a year, whoever paid you will be obligated to send you a W-9 and report that income to the IRS.
This can mean a more complicated tax return and more sub-$600 payments to keep track of. Talk to your favorite accountant for specifics.
Mine was sure to tell me that if I understood tax law and was more clever with numbers, I wouldn’t be joining paid medical survey panels in between seeing patients, I’d be on a beach drinking whatever the non-alcoholic equivalent of a mojito is. Fair point.
Survey Says!
Is joining one (or all) of these paid medical panels right for you? Like any question in medicine worth asking, the answer is, “it depends.” If you happen to work in a popular specialty, you just might make a few bucks. If not, don’t fret, because what is hot now will fizzle out in a few years to make way for the new. Just don't get too excited for a comeback, hepatology.
If you are looking for more ways to supplement your income, some of our previous posts have covered other this. They show you lucrative side hustles that physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and physicians use to increase their non-clinical income.
Don't miss this article on nonclinical side hustles for clinicians to learn outside-the-box strategies to make teaching and medical writing a reliable side income stream.
Further Reading
A Quandary: Is it Telemedicine or Telehealth?
I sincerely hope that it will not require knowledge of Quantum theory to establish a differentiation between telemedicine and telehealth
Burnout and Entrepreneurship in Medicine
Last Updated: 27 December 2018 This post contains affiliate links. That means we may earn a commission (at no extra
