Help me negotiate a better salary! new grad in rural family medicine

[clairdelune]

I hope some of you will help me with this. Thanks already! 

I have recently received a job offer in rural family medicine clinic that is located 3.5 hours from home. There is a NP and a physician full time at the clinic. This will be my first job since PA school. 

I went to 1 interview with them and they paid for travel and hotel. I genuinely enjoyed speaking with the staff during my interview and I would be very happy to work there. 

When I got the phone call for the offer a couple of days ago, they only mentioned salary and he said because I will be full time I will have full benefits. Before the interview, they emailed me a benefits book that included this: 

• Salary: $81,369.60 yearly at $39.12/hour 
  • 2016 AAPA salary for family medicine 
    • 0-1 year (In the US)
      • 10th: $70,000 with $300 bonus ($40/hr) 
      • 25th: $78,250 with $1000 bonus ($43.01/hr)
      • 50th: $85,000 with $5000 bonus($45.00/hr)
      • 75th: $90,000 with $10,000 bonus ($51.00/hr)
      • 90th: $95,111 with $15,600 bonus ($61.00/hr)
    • 0 - 1 year for my state
      • 10th: $25,000 with $2000 bonus
      • 25th: $75,000 with $4000 bonus 
      • 50th: $80,000 with $5000 bonus 
      • 75th: $90,000 with $6000 bonus  
      • 90th: $93,000 with $11,000 bonus
  • I don't know yet if I will get a bonus besides the sign-on bonus. 
• Schedule: No weekends, no on-call, no admissions. 
  • Monday: 8am -1pm  / 2pm-4:30pm 
  • Tuesday: 8am -1pm  / 2pm-4:30pm 
  • Wednesday: 8am – 11:30am
  • Thursday: 8am -1pm  / 2pm-4:30pm
  • Friday: 8am -1pm  / 2pm-4:30pm

• Medical and dental: Coverage effective after 30 days of satisfactory employment. 
• Basic life insurance 1x my annual base earnings up to a maximium of $500,000.
  • Coverage is effective the first day of the month following 90 day of satisfactory employment. 
  • PTO (vacation, holidays, personal time, sick time); begin accruing PTO hours on first day of employment. `
    • Exempt: 0-60 months (up to 5 years)
      • accrued rate per hr: 0.1077
      • maximum hours accrued annually: 224
      • Maximum 8 hr days accrued annually: 28
      • Maximum PTO hours accumulated: 848 
• What I was told during the interview:
  • They will cover CME, licensure and DEA fees.
  • They will provide relocation allowance and they will provide a sign-on bonus. 
  • I will be trained on the job. They have an on site physician and NP to help me as I see patient. 
  • I will have 30 mins per patients and at first I will have 8-10 patients per day. All new patients to the practice. On average, the the PAs there see 16-18 patients per day. 

Questions that I have: 

1. As a new grad, do we negotiate from the 50th % and up? 
2. Can I negotiate salary before they tell me CME, sign on bonus amount ect?
3. How can I negotiate a better salary considering my state's salary range? 
4. The offer was via phone, do I need to accept the offer first for them to put everything they told me on paper? 
5. I will ask about malpractice insurance, yearly bonus, number of days of CME and how much, holidays off, annual raise and contract term if any. Any other questions and tips to better my counter offer email? 

Thank you so much. 

[bjwbell]

$81,369.60 = 52*40*$39.12

Do you have other offers or interviews pending? It's much easier to negotiate with other options on the table. Maybe ask for moving expenses.

Sent from my HTC One A9 using Tapatalk

[clairdelune]

1 hour ago, bjwbell said:

$81,369.60 = 52*40*$39.12

Do you have other offers or interviews pending? It's much easier to negotiate with other options on the table. Maybe ask for moving expenses.

Sent from my HTC One A9 using Tapatalk
 

I only have one other offer in a disability/special needs nursing skilled center. At first they offered $75,000 with full health insurance coverave, M-F 8-5, no calls or weekends. no CME, relocation fees or sign on bonus. I am not very interested in nursing skilled center or extended living as my first job out of PA school. After a counter offer, they agreed to pay $84,000 and same stated benefits but I am going to refuse it. 

 

 

[GatorRRT]

5 hours ago, clairdelune said:

I hope some of you will help me with this. Thanks already! 

I have recently received a job offer in rural family medicine clinic that is located 3.5 hours from home. There is a NP and a physician full time at the clinic. This will be my first job since PA school. 

I went to 1 interview with them and they paid for travel and hotel. I genuinely enjoyed speaking with the staff during my interview and I would be very happy to work there. 

When I got the phone call for the offer a couple of days ago, they only mentioned salary and he said because I will be full time I will have full benefits. Before the interview, they emailed me a benefits book that included this: 

• Salary: $81,369.60 yearly at $39.12/hour 
  • 2016 AAPA salary for family medicine 
    • 0-1 year (In the US)
      • 10th: $70,000 with $300 bonus ($40/hr) 
      • 25th: $78,250 with $1000 bonus ($43.01/hr)
      • 50th: $85,000 with $5000 bonus($45.00/hr)
      • 75th: $90,000 with $10,000 bonus ($51.00/hr)
      • 90th: $95,111 with $15,600 bonus ($61.00/hr)
    • 0 - 1 year for my state
      • 10th: $25,000 with $2000 bonus
      • 25th: $75,000 with $4000 bonus 
      • 50th: $80,000 with $5000 bonus 
      • 75th: $90,000 with $6000 bonus  
      • 90th: $93,000 with $11,000 bonus
  • I don't know yet if I will get a bonus besides the sign-on bonus. 
• Schedule: No weekends, no on-call, no admissions. 
  • Monday: 8am -1pm  / 2pm-4:30pm 
  • Tuesday: 8am -1pm  / 2pm-4:30pm 
  • Wednesday: 8am – 11:30am
  • Thursday: 8am -1pm  / 2pm-4:30pm
  • Friday: 8am -1pm  / 2pm-4:30pm

• Medical and dental: Coverage effective after 30 days of satisfactory employment. 
• Basic life insurance 1x my annual base earnings up to a maximium of $500,000.
  • Coverage is effective the first day of the month following 90 day of satisfactory employment. 
  • PTO (vacation, holidays, personal time, sick time); begin accruing PTO hours on first day of employment. `
    • Exempt: 0-60 months (up to 5 years)
      • accrued rate per hr: 0.1077
      • maximum hours accrued annually: 224
      • Maximum 8 hr days accrued annually: 28
      • Maximum PTO hours accumulated: 848 
• What I was told during the interview:
  • They will cover CME, licensure and DEA fees.
  • They will provide relocation allowance and they will provide a sign-on bonus. 
  • I will be trained on the job. They have an on site physician and NP to help me as I see patient. 
  • I will have 30 mins per patients and at first I will have 8-10 patients per day. All new patients to the practice. On average, the the PAs there see 16-18 patients per day. 

Questions that I have: 

1. As a new grad, do we negotiate from the 50th % and up? 
2. Can I negotiate salary before they tell me CME, sign on bonus amount ect?
3. How can I negotiate a better salary considering my state's salary range? 
4. The offer was via phone, do I need to accept the offer first for them to put everything they told me on paper? 
5. I will ask about malpractice insurance, yearly bonus, number of days of CME and how much, holidays off, annual raise and contract term if any. Any other questions and tips to better my counter offer email? 

Thank you so much. 

The AAPA salary data, or any salary data is a starting point for negotiation, not a hard set number. First rule of negotiation is to not give the first number (you've done this). Now simply ask for what you want. If they can't accommodate you, move on. 

[JPMiller]

Aapa numbers are always low. If you can get the mgma numbers, they are much more accurate, higher, and what most hospital systems use to set salaries.

[pacificcoast7]

Its best to negotiate with other offers in hand. Negotiating otherwise is tough as you don't have a strong position. I'd say for a rural area, the pay is very low considering the patient loads are quite typical. I would keep looking but use what they offer you as a negotiating tool for future jobs. Apply to lots of places, you can never have to many choices and decide whats most important to you in terms of work-life balance/location/pay. Also check out critical access hospitals for jobs. Due to special favorable treatment that they receive from the federal government, they are able to pay much higher salaries on a per-patient basis then other employers.