New Grad EM Offer

[Chloe21]

Hello all, I am a new graduate PA and wanted your feedback on this potential offer. I was provided this information during my interview, have yet to receive actual official contract.

It is a level 1 trauma center. Great learning/mentorship, friendly staff, has trained many new grads. On-boarding will spend a month with another APP for all shifts. Will never work a shift alone. Will always have at least 1 physician, resident, and another APP on shift

Salary: 103,376/yr for 40hrs a week or 93,038/yr for 36hrs/week. (more likely since 12 hour shifts)

8 paid holidays per year

Vacation days: 20 days if 40hrs/week or 18 days if 36hrs/week 

Sick days: 10 if 40hrs/week or 9 if 36hrs/week

CME days: 5 days if 40hrs/week or 4.5 if 36hrs/week

CME allowance: 3,500 if 40hrs/week or 3,150 if 36hrs/week

Retirement: Vested over 5 year period; 20% per year for each year of employment. Employer contribution 10-13% of total gross compensation

Life insurance policy of 300,000 fully paid by employer

Short and long term disability paid for by employer

Malpractice fully paid for by employer

Not sure what shift differentials there are yet but there is a rotating call schedule for which you will only be paid if called in which is compensated at a higher rate 

 

Thought? Pros? Cons? Things to bring up to them? Suggestions? I am not sure how much wiggle room there is since this is a major hospital.

 

Thanks

[MediMike]

That sounds pretty fantastic honestly. The vacation time works out to be 6wks which is truly impressive, retirement is above and beyond and CME is out of the park.

Compensation is a little low, works out to about $49/hr but if they have an aggressive pay scale it shouldn't be an issue unless you are in a super high COL area. 

As long as there is someone there to staff your patients with and teach it sounds like a great offer to me.

Edit: And actually if you add in your vacation time that plugs in another $10k+/yr bringing your hourly up by about $5/hr. 

I'd take it

[Chloe21]

Thanks for your feedback. Any advice on how to negotiate up the salary? 

[PAC94]

The median  EM salary for PAs  in 2017 was $123,597according to AMGA 2018 salary report.  This does not take into account location or years of experience as PA or in specialty. 

[Chloe21]

@PAC94 how do i get a copy of that report? Thank you.

[PAC94]

You can call them and purchase the report. I think I paid $180. 

[anewconvert]

Not a bad gig. Take the 12/hr shift three days a week, pick up a 12hr shift at an urgent care somewhere, clear $120k in your first year out of school with three days a week off.

[RobinHood]

Been doing EM now for awhile. 

Typical contracts 144 hr/ 12 shifts per month (12 hour shifts)

Take nothing less than $105K / yr as a new grad. If you work straight nights, you should get at least a 10% bump in pay. After some experience you can make over 200K with strong negotiation skills and the ability to due procedures (RSI, chest tubes, central lines etc, POC US fast exams, etc...). 

Make sure you get to use your CME time and PTO, talk to other PAs that work there. Some employers talk up an awesome contract, but make it so hard for you to use your CME or PTO, and make you jump through a bunch of hoops and make you upfront the cost. 

Your CME sounds good, $3,500 however, make sure you do not have to pay your dues out out of this , DEA, Recert, Medical license, etc... The company should pay that out separately. Make sure you can spend the $3500 on anything you want, CME websites with gift card kick backs or conference abroad, electronics... Some companies have rules and regulations regarding international travel and wont let you use your CME time , always ask the other PAs that work at the site to get the full picture. 

If you have to be on call, make sure you get paid a fixed rate while your at home. You deserve to have a life outside of work. If you cannot go out for a beer or leave town, then you should be compensated for pager time. 

What if you work more than 144 hours/mo. do you get supplemental pay? It most likely will not be time and half, but should be an increase rate. 

5 years to be vested!! I would say heck no, 2 years max. They are trying to suck you in for a 5 year commitment without telling you. What this means is you will lose the company match if you are not there for 5 years, that is totally a suckers deal. 1-2 years would be fair. It looks like your company match is good, 10-13%, but they typically match half of that, so probably 6%, I am not sure why they gave you a range.  So lets say you work 3 years there, make 105 K /year and are contributing 10% of your income to your 401K, thats 30K, an the match would be half, so 15K. You would lose the 15K if you left do to the 5 year clause.  Also Health care is behind the times with investing. You should make sure your company has a Roth Qualified retirement plan 401k/403B, which lets you put away up to 19K/year and grow TAX FREE, plus still allowing your to have a separate individual Roth IRA (6K/yr max) as of 2019. 

If they don't budge a lil bit, I would move on. I have worked in over 4 hospital systems in multiple states. You get burned and you learn. You are worth much more than you think. Just network with a few head hunters and find out what your really worth.  

 

[ohiovolffemtp]

@RobinHood: for the $200K/year you mention, what state or part of the country?  How many hours/month?  At 144 hours/month that would be about $116/hour and I've not seen anything anywhere near that in my area - the midwest.