ER Staffing Groups

[Raiderjay12]

Newly graduated PA.  I am attempting to navigate the Emergency Medicine job market in the COVID-19 era and am finding quite a bit of resistance to companies hiring at the moment.  Does anybody know the names of any ER staffing groups I can look into regarding EM employment?  I currently live in California and would prefer to stay, but am open to moving to other areas of the country.  Thanks!

[ohiovolffemtp]

The big 3: USACS, Envision, and TeamHealth each have a fair number of jobs listed on their web sites.  Each site (hospital - not web site) makes its own decision on hiring a new grad vs requiring experience.  Each of those 3 has also cut benefits, compensation, and hours due to the declines in ED volumes.  This started before COVID-19. Also, there are usually openings that aren't posted for each of these companies, so it is worth it to contact their recruiters.   Vituity (formerly CEP) is a good company and also runs a very good EM PA residency program.  It's primarily on the west coast.  VEP is a very good company - don't know if they have openings now.

Check the standard places as well: SEMPA, various state PA organization's web sites, DocCafe, Indeed, Monster.  Often smaller EM staffing companies will post there.  The smaller companies can be better to work for.  Talk to your school, and to recent grads.

It is a tough market right now.  There are a lot of under-employed EM PA's right now.

[dphy83]

Vituity is huge in CA. Check there first. I've heard Envision is financially unstable, though they have a ton of jobs on their site (not necessarily in CA).

[EMEDPA]

I have worked for team health at three sites since 2001 and have always been treated well by them. fair salary, reasonable benefits, good leadership, etc etc

[ohiovolffemtp]

I too have worked for TeamHealth and have had a different experience, not at all positive.  My former colleagues would agree with me.  We had worked for a regional staffing group of about 1200 docs, PA's, and NP's that was bought by Team.  Salary was maintained but the annual salary reviews promised by Team were cut out several years ago shortly before Team was taken back private by the venture capital firm that now owns it.  Team has been very aggressive in cutting benefits, e.g. all CME allowances are gone, cutting hours, and positions.  They also underfunded their 401K match.  They are also very aggressive in furloughing employees.  They also paid less than Envision locally.

[EMEDPA]

I work for a subset of team health called NW Emergency physicians. We still have cme, etc and no one has been laid off. In fact, they are asking us for extra availability at 1.5x.

[emtPA]

On 8/3/2020 at 4:49 AM, ohiovolffemtp said:

I too have worked for TeamHealth and have had a different experience, not at all positive.  My former colleagues would agree with me.  We had worked for a regional staffing group of about 1200 docs, PA's, and NP's that was bought by Team.  Salary was maintained but the annual salary reviews promised by Team were cut out several years ago shortly before Team was taken back private by the venture capital firm that now owns it.  Team has been very aggressive in cutting benefits, e.g. all CME allowances are gone, cutting hours, and positions.  They also underfunded their 401K match.  They are also very aggressive in furloughing employees.  They also paid less than Envision locally.

I got laid off by TH effective 8/1 in that they took away all my hours but "let" me stay PRN. Then my CME money that was promised that I could have all of ($1000) was taken away AFTER I spent the money and tried claiming it and was then told that since I got laid off that it's prorated now. Apparently had I tried getting reimbursed a month prior I would have been able to use every cent. 

[ohiovolffemtp]

Across the midwest region at least, TeamHealth cut the doc's pay by 6% across the board.

[MediMike]

On 8/3/2020 at 12:21 PM, EMEDPA said:

I work for a subset of team health called NW Emergency physicians. We still have cme, etc and no one has been laid off. In fact, they are asking us for extra availability at 1.5x.

Crazy. They've cut PA shifts and shut their Obs unit where I am... and I think we're pretty close.

[EMEDPA]

14 minutes ago, MediMike said:

Crazy. They've cut PA shifts and shut their Obs unit where I am... and I think we're pretty close.

The position I cover for them now is rural and I am the senior PA there, having been there for 13 years. Only one doc and a handful of nurses have been there longer. I have been there through 2 ER remodels going from 5 beds to 17. This is the place that was the basis for my "Why I love rural EM" thread. 

[BirdDogPA]

In my humble opinion all of the corporate staffing companies are shady to some extent. I’ve worked for two: Envision and APP. Envision has been a mixed bag with ups and downs. APP was mostly negative. I’d recommend trying to find an independent group if you can though that can be darn near impossible these days. 

[Colorado]

Does anyone have any insight into USACS in particular? I am entertaining a job offer from them and would like anyone experience if they're willing to share. Colorado region.

[dphy83]

TH has been good in my experience. It is so region-dependent regarding furloughs that you really can't generalize. We furloughed no one. Hourly pay is very good. Yes, CME is gone which sucks to not have a company paid vacation every year, but they just incorporated the ACEP CME catalog so there isn't a shortage of ways to get your hours. Also, the minimum hourly commitment to be full time is a very reasonable 120 hours where I am at. The large academic center in my city requires 150+ for full time.