EM Pay Scale Based on Expected Scope of Practice, Level of Responsibility, and Acuity

[thulegreen1101]

Does anyone know of specific salary reports for ER PAs that differentiate between scope of practice, level of responsibility, years of experience, EM-CAQ, residency training etc? It seems like a lot of statewide pay scales are simply based on "ER PA," but the spectrum of responsibility and scope of practice is vast. For example, a second coverage PA in a busy rural critical access ER who is expected to fully run codes and traumas independently vs a fast track PA in a level 1 who only sees low level acuity. (Yes I know that this is not always the case and Level 5 can very easily become high acuity patients).  A lot of HRs seem to base salary off of the standard "ER PA" salary, without considering scope of practice and level of responsibility. I can't find anything through AAPA or SEMPA that is specific.

 

Edited February 25, 2022 by thulegreen1101

[EMEDPA]

I don't think you will find such a scale. Salaries are based on location, volume seen by provider, acuity of those patients, # of procedures done, and years of experience(both total and at a given place). Some of the best paid PAs see the lowest acuity and highest volume. I could make more money working at such a place, but would hate my job every single shift. In a perfect world, someone 10 years out of school seeing high acuity patients independently should make more than a new grad seeing 36 pts in 12 hrs in fast track, but it doesn't generally work out that way. 

[MediMike]

Yeah that's going to be impossible to find I imagine.  You're looking at private equity group vs hospital vs independent physician org.  Total exp vs exp with group.  # patients seen and acuity as noted above.

Anecdote:

My wife worked ED.  Within a 20m radius there were two private doc groups and a private equity group with an hourly difference of up to $20/hr between them for seeing similar patient populations.  Neither rhyme nor reason.

[ohiovolffemtp]

My experience is that pay is driven by local economics more than anything else.  Employers will pay just enough to fill their staffing needs.  In the short term, this plays out in terms of the potentially large bonuses to fill hard to fill shifts.  One of my PRN gigs paid $250/shift in bonus in December and turned around and cut shifts in March.

In general rural pays better, because it's harder to staff, but there's still large variation between employers.  For example, at my current FT rural critical access hospital EM site, the contract changed hands and the new company's offers were about 10-15% less.  So, our 2 PT PA's left, I went from FT to PRN, and only 1 person stayed FT - because he's the only 1 that lives local and can't really travel because of small children and a working spouse.  I chose to travel for my current employer to another rural site.  Because this site is higher volume and higher acuity, I will be getting a raise, as will all of the PA's at the site.  But, it's also because my employer is trying to make sure the site has continuity with good PA's.