Medical surveys are an easy way to make a few bucks at a good hourly rate (well, maybe at least for a resident), and there are multiple sites offering surveys to physicians. The caveat is that, of course, most survey sponsors are typically looking for board-certified physicians with multiple years of experience, particularly in sub-specialties. The less experience you have, the more you need to be prepared to get screened out of what seem like promising survey opportunities.
This article was originally posted way back on Feb 26, 2014 and last updated November 2024. This page contains referral/affiliate links (thank you for your support).
Curizon has been in the business a long time, but they just completely revamped their website and platform. It’s a trusted site for well-paying healthcare surveys for physicians as well as other healthcare professionals. Five new sign-ups per month will win $100.
One of the biggest survey sites is Sermo (also an online healthcare community), which is now offering my readers a $10 welcome bonus. The survey experience has been recently revamped, and once you maintain a balance of $100 in honoraria, you get preferentially invited to more surveys.
ZoomRx is also excellent and has a nice app and better/shorter-than-average surveys. No sign-up bonus for you, but there is a referral one for me if you’d like to support the site!
One of my very favorites is InCrowd, which has a slick mobile-friendly site and will send you survey opportunities by email or text message. These are always of the very short and painless variety (the fastest of all in my experience), so the payouts are small, but it’s good money for the time and basically effortless. You do have to respond quickly before surveys fill up, but you even get a buck when you get screened out. Being referred (like signing up through that link) will earn you a $10 bonus after you answer your first two microsurveys.
M3 now has three separate very active research companies under its umbrella: M3 Global Research, M-Panels, and All Global Circle. Each is currently offering its own $10 sign-up bonus for twelve select specialties (Hematology-Oncology, Surgery, Urology, Neurology, Family Medicine or General Practice, Psychiatry, Ophthalmology, Endocrinology/Diabetes, Dermatology, Radiology, Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, Otorhinolaryngology/ENT, and Pulmonology).
At the resident level, one of my old favorites has been Brand Institute, which almost exclusively sends out short surveys about potential drug brand names. Payouts are always on the smaller side ($15), but each one is quick (about $1 per minute or more) and screen-outs are rare. So if you get invited to a survey, then you can generally complete it and get the honoraria. No BS. The main style/format is nearly always the same, so you pick up speed as you do more of them. And that honoraria size is also significantly larger than what one can generally pull as a non-physician (e.g. SurveySavvy, the biggest most popular survey site around, usually pays a measly $2 per survey). The website, however, is clunky and terrible. You’ve been warned.
Additional legitimate additional survey sites, many of which are significantly less active, are below:
- ImpactNetwork
- Reckner Healthcare
- OpinionSite
- MDforLives is a newer company that I cannot recommend at this time.
- Olson Research Group
- CurbsideMe (now defunct)
- Epocrates Honors
- DoctorDirectory
- MedSurvey
- Advanced Medical Reviews
- Physicians Round Table
- Truth on Call (text-message based surveys; not sure this is meaningfully active anymore)
- MedQuery
- Medical Advisory Board
- Healthcare Advisory Bureau
- SurveyRx
- Physicians Advisory Council
- Health Strategies Group
- InspiredOpinions (Schlesinger Associates)
- Medefield
- Encuity Research
- e-Rewards Medical
- Physicians Interactive
158 Comments
I want in! That sounds awesome!
I’d love a referral – thanks!
I’m going to get started on these quizzes and would love a referral!
Would love a referral as well! Thanx!
I’d love a referral
Referral for Sermo please!
Referral for Sermo please! :)
Would love a referral for Sermo, thanks!
Send me a referral for Sermo plz ty
I’d like a referral. Thanks for sharing!
I’d like a referral please!
I would like a referral!
I’d like to join if possible! I am a medical student though, but we can accumulate points for now until we are board certified?
Thanks!
Referral please! Thanks for sharing
I’d love a Sermo referral please!
Julia,
You won’t be able to join Sermo without finishing school, but you can certainly join QuantiaMD and accumulate points gradually by completing the activities. Then, once you finish up medical school, you’ll be able to confirm your “clinician status” and redeem your points (which is what I did). Basically as long as you log in once a year, the Q-points don’t expire. I actually can’t remember offhand anymore the vetting process for MDLinx or Brand institute, which are the other two I’ve had success with.
Ben, I’d be interested, too. Send me an invite, please!
I would love a referral as well
Please send me a referral as well. Thank you!
I would like a referral as well. Thanks
Hey i’d like a referral please??? =]
Great information! Thank you
I’d love a Sermo referral please.
Sermo referral please (and thank you!)
Sermo please. Thanks!!
Is it just me or does Sermo suck these days? I swear I haven’t gotten a survey from them in several months.
Sermo is a bit irregular, with frequency depending a lot what specialty you’ve provided. Having $100 in honoraria saved up to reach “preferred status” also makes a signficant difference. Getting the first $100 can be a challenge.
I would love a referral
I want in (:
Hey Ben, I would like a referral to Sermo please! Thanks!
I would love a referral to as many as possible.
Thanks a lot for posting the info
I would like a referal. Thanks!
Do you have to disclose this survey taking as a relevant financial relationship in a presentation you give?
Nope. The actual companies sponsoring these surveys are not dislosed to you as a survey taker, so you don’t even have a way of knowing to whom you could have any sort of relationship.
Please send me a referral!
Please send me an invite :)
liked the article, I would be grateful for a referral, thanks!
QuantiaMD sounds good to me as an MD and I would love a referral. Thanks
hello. thanks for your help. I would like a referral please. thanks
I’d love an invite too. Thanks!
For anyone who is reading this and wondering, yes, I do respond to the these requests (usually the same day!).
Sermo has worked very poorly for me to the point that I do not trust them to be secure. I registered and they could not verify who I am. I sent documentation and they emailed me that I was verified and the account active. Then later they emailed and said they can not verify who I am. I responded that you already did. They responded that they did not have any record of an account with my email and asked me for more documentation. Don’t trust a site that can’t even keep track of what info it collects – that’s how identity theft happens; last thing any physician needs is someone getting his/her licensing info and doing illegal things.
Sounds super frustrating. Can’t say I’ve heard of anything like that happening to anyone else I know or myself, but I’d definitely be annoyed under those circumstances.
Typically I’ve seen people provide their medical school diploma or state medical license when it comes to providing documentation for these sites. License numbers are readily available online, and NPI numbers are also public info. So with regards to that sort of information, I don’t really see the harm regardless.
I have never gotten anything from Brand Institute. Do you need to be a VIP member to actually get any surveys?
Definitely don’t need to be a VIP. The VIP program gives you access to open surveys, but the vast majority of surveys still come from direct invitations.
I have noticed that the survey invitations seem to come in spurts of activity, and that there is a lot of variability in how soon they come after signing up. For example, I didn’t get a single invitation for the initial three months after signing up and have since continued to get them regularly, so it may just be a matter of time until they kick in. I do know others who received surveys immediately, but it seems like waiting a bit first is probably more common.
Hey Ben, I was hoping you had a few more referrals for Sermo to send out? If you do, I would appreciate one! And thanks for all the links!
Ben, thanks for the informative post. As many above, I would very much appreciate a Sermo referral, if possible!
Interested in joining the Sermo community. Thanks
Interested too joining the Sermo community.
Thanks
interested in Sermo and any other referrals. Tnx!
would love referral to Sermo, or other paying sites thank you
Would like a referral please :)
Would like a sermo referral please, and to other similar sites, thanks!
Hello Ben,
I would like a referral to Sermo and other paying survey sites-Please. Thank you.
Still featuring same-day referrals for those wondering at home.
Ben,
Would appreciate a referral to Sermo. Thank you very much!
Pls send me referral for Sermo and Brand. Thanks!
Referral for Sermo pls. Thanks!
Great article.
Do you have insight on other sites that cater for Pharmacists as well.
Brand Institute and QuantiaMD definitely both cater to pharmacists as well as other clinicians. Sermo does not; a few of the others (e.g. Curizon) do as well, but they don’t seem to me to be quite as active. MDLinx does (perhaps ironically), and is one of the most active for physicians, but I’m not sure how good the site is for pharmacists=—my guess is that it would be one of the best bests though.
Invite for sermo please! THANKS!
Invite for Sermo please.
Please send me a referal for Sermo, I’m dermatologist, thanks
Still responding within minutes to hours for those keeping track at home.
Please send me a referral, thanks!
I’d love a referral–thanks!
I’d love a referral as well. Dermatologist.
Send me an email for referral to Sermo.
Sent
Hello,
Do you know if PAs can join? If you feel comfortable, please send me a referral as well.
Thanks!
Sermo is only for physicians (and they do verify), but most of the others are open to all types of providers.
I would love a referral to Sermo. Thanks!
Can i get a sermo referral? Thanks!
Of course!
Could you please send me a referral to Sermo? Thanks!
Sent
Referral please :)
Sent
Can you send me a referral to Sermo please?
Thanks!
Sent!
I would like a sermo referral please. Also your book for the law exam was awesome, passed with a 98
Sent (thanks!)
Hey Ben. I’d love a Sermo invite if you’re still handing them out
Sent
Thanks for sending. Didn’t see the invite come through though. will it let you resend it?
Resent. These get lost in the spam folder not infrequently, so check there as well.
Please send me a referral as well :)
I wouldn’t mind a referral to sermo as well. Thanks!
Sent & Sent
I’d take a referral to Sermo and any others that you have as well. Thanks for all of the great info.
Sent
I would appreciate a referral to Sermo. thank you for your website and showing us all these different opportunities!
Sent
I’d love a referral to Sermo.
Done
I will love a referall to sermo too
Sent
Sorry for disturbing i found this site and i was really interested in it can a referall for the sermo site if it is possible ?
Sent
Ben thanks for posting this resource and keeping it alive all these years, would you kindly send over a sermo referral please? Much appreciated.
Very welcome (sent!)
Can residents join sermo?
Yes, absolutely, though they won’t end up qualifying for some surveys.
Please send me a referral!
Sent!
Please send a referral for Sermo.
Thanks!
Sent!
If you could please send me a referral for Sermo, I would greatly appreciate it!
Done
Hi,
Please send me a referral for sermo and medefield. Thanks
Sent
“High yield” article ;-) -thanks.
Could you send me a referral for Sermo & Medefield (I’d be open to other referrals, as well.) Thanks again!
Sent Sermo. Links to the rest including Medefield should work, let me know if any seem broken.
I would appreciate a referral to Sermo. Thanks!
Sent
Just found out I matched yesterday–would love an invite to Sermo as well.
Also, thanks for the informative list of books needed as a psych resident.
Have a good day!
You’re welcome. Here you go (but you won’t be able to sign up until you get your NPI number)
Id like an invite as well, please! thanks
Sent
Hey Ben,
Would love a referral. Graduating medical school and waiting to start residency. Thank you
Sent
Hey Ben! Would love a referral also!
Thanks for the info and the great site btw, been reading off and on for years =)
Thanks! (Sent)
Hi Ben,
Can I please have a referral?
Thanks!
Sent
Hi Ben,
What do these survey companies do if they find that you are not representing yourself accurately (i.e. not actually a practicing cardiologist or whoever)?
Not pay you for starters. They could conceivably report you to your local medical board, but I haven’t heard of any cases of that happening on the grapevine.
Hey Ben,
Would love a Sermo referral. Thanks!
Sent