Independent contractor - Research

[rBananas]

I quit my job as a salaried GYN PA in a private practice as I was going nuts with the monotony of going in an out of a room all day (my year was basically going 5760+ times in and out of my office)- amongst other reasons, I was making 97K/y. I have a total of 4 years experience as a PA. I am unemployed and get health insurance through my partner. I was considering doing part time research or part time home health or both. I have done HIV care and GYN and want to simply try something different that is less monotonous. So, I am considering either research or home health as I like not feeling constricted to one room and one activity all day long, also I don't mind getting other skills outside of clinical.

I was offered 55 dollars/h with only malpractice coverage for a research gig. It is 5h/day.  2-4 patients per hour, depending on cancellations. I can do this for a couple of days and the other days do home health, which is 60dollars/h. 

The research company is a NYC private small office with 1 PI and another part time clinician (NP). I have worked before in a teaching hospital enrolling patients in studies, so visiting this small office makes me feel more cautious re: the contract/job. I also have never worked as an independent contractor and feel a little lost in the process of contract negotiation. 

I will be negotiating this offer next week and would like to know what do people think is a good hourly rate for an independent contractor (knowing the workplace does not contribute towards social security and there are no benefits) working in either research or home health visits in NYC? 

Thanks so much for your time and insights!!!

 

[anewconvert]

My wife is a research coordinator for phase 4 trials at the moment.  I hope you like paperwork....  Lots of paperwork.  Tons of paperwork.....  Not sure that this is going to end your sense of monotony, at least after the novelty wears off.

[rBananas]

Anewconvert, thanks! I was told they have other people doing the paperwork as I'm being paid by the hour. I just go see the patients, chart and leave. Who knows if there are any surprises down the road. The studies they have are for 6mo-1year so I know the projects change every so often. 

[anewconvert]

I am sure they do have coordinators and trials assistants to handle the regulatory side of things. In fact until recently my wife's job was regulatory stuff. There is still a lot of paperwork surrounding Adverse and severe adverse events that the clinician has to go through and your visit notes will probably be scrutinized in a way that they aren't in a purely clinical setting. I think it could be a fun job, just cautioning that if excitement is what you are looking for you might be a bit disappointed. It will probably still be a lot of going in and out of rooms all day. 

[electric130]

I think just the fact that you will only work 5 hours per day on the days you do research, and then doing home health on other days will break up the monotony.  I also felt like you did, the in and out of the office all day for 15 years in a high volume practice was leading to total burn out.  I recently started working as an IC with no benefits.  It was worth it for me to do something different, but if you look at it from a purely monetary standpoint being a W2 employee is almost always better unless you are at a really high rate of pay as an IC.  It really makes contract and negotiations quite easy, I would just clarify if they will pay any vacation.  Honestly this is somewhat of a luxury to be able to do, fortunately we have spouses/partner that have good medical benefits, my husband is career military so health insurance and most of our retirement funding once he retires from the military will be taken care of.  The older I get the more I realize I really do not enjoy doing anything 40 hours per week in an office, and really like having a combination of different types of work or just more time off.  I have an interesting mix of a little bit of clinical work with insurance work from home and I love it.  I am also looking at possibly starting a side gig with my sister doing something completely out of the medical field. I would go for it, just do your research on being a 1099 employee, (I am assuming that is what you mean by IC) and timing of paying your own taxes and self employment tax amounts.  

[rBananas]

Thanks for sharing electric130!

It sounds like you are keeping it diversified. How cool! 

I have always been curious about how does one find jobs with insurances? I have done a lot of job searches in the past month and have not come across any positions with insurance companies.