How much $$$ to demand for Kaiser Anesthesia

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Hello Kaiser Anesthesiologists,

I Will be reviewing a contract for a full time gig with Kaiser anesthesia southern california. I have 2.5 years general anesthesia experience out of residency. I'm at a Level 1 trauma center, county hospital. Board certified. How much should I ask for a starting salary at this HMO giant?

Thanks

I dont think there is much demanding. if yo udont take the job someone else will.. so.. you are pretty much stuck..

Yeah-I agree- there isn't much room for negotiation-based upon desirable geography and large bureaucratic employer

I believe they have a standard salary schedule.

Originally Posted by hoyden

I believe they have a standard salary schedule.

I looked at them a few years ago. Not a bad deal, not good either. The salary was fixed based on your experience. You may negotiate a sign on or moving expenses, I didn't get that far.
You probably won't like what they're offering. I didn't. They do have complex benefits, take some time and figure what the perks worth to you, and if you will be there long enough to benefit.

Thanks for the input guys. Happy holiday season.

Hi,

I work for Kaiser now after working for a large private practice anesthesia group so I thought I would chime in on this. Salaries are pretty much fixed/non-negotiable as far as I can tell. The salaries aren't the highest (my friends in private practice make more than me) but they aren't terrible either(make more here than my old academic job and my old large group private practice job). The benefits are pretty good including good retirement plans and a pension/ The workload is reasonable (55-60 hours here where I work) and there is "downtime" during calls/shifts where you are relaxing but still get paid. You are paid by time spent in the hospital, not by cases that you do or supervise. You can even use sick leave as family leave to take care of sick kids (probably not allowed in private practice). Not as much vacation as private practice (you start out with 3 1/2 weeks) but it is paid time off. There are more rules and regulations and more of a hierarchy to follow which is also a consideration. Overall, it's a good job for some people but not for everyone(had one friend leave Kaiser saying there was too much bureaucracy for him to deal with). I would recommend to anyone that you check out the job and make your own decision if it is right for you. Kaiser jobs in Southern Cal are now becoming more competitive by the way.

Looking to slow down in three years. Does Kaiser allow people to come in part time, or do they allow docs who have been there awhile transition to part time or spend fewer weeks working for a salary reduction?

Originally Posted by dr doze

Looking to slow down in three years. Does Kaiser allow people to come in part time, or do they allow docs who have been there awhile transition to part time or spend fewer weeks working for a salary reduction?

Kaiser does have part time per diems that work at other jobs. Also, it is possible to be a per diem or partner off the call schedule avoiding evenings and weekends (at reduced pay, pay is based on time worked).

Wow. This thread is making me thankful I'm in the midwest with high salary, great benefits, 38-42 hour work weeks, and 12 weeks vacation.

Originally Posted by DrRobert

Wow. This thread is making me thankful I'm in the midwest with high salary, great benefits, 38-42 hour work weeks, and 12 weeks vacation.

I think about moving to the Midwest more and more.

Yeah but then you have to live in the midwest.

What does Kaiser pay per hour? What is their pay schedule out of curiousity. Just thinking I would like the warm LA weather at some point in my life.

The more important question for someone on the tail end is how many hours do you need to work to qualify for health insurance.

Originally Posted by DrRobert

Wow. This thread is making me thankful I'm in the midwest with high salary, great benefits, 38-42 hour work weeks, and 12 weeks vacation.

What city are you in???

Originally Posted by desflurane

Yeah but then you have to live in the midwest.

I'm not in the midwest, but I might as well be. Cowtown CA has a lot in common with flyover country.

The locals here tell me that "cows are the smell of money" and they grow to like it.

I haven't grown to like it in the last 2 1/2 years ... but I can tell you that the higher pay, lower cost of living, and lack of people/traffic has really helped encourage my olfactory fatigue. I'd even consider staying forever, if not for the fact that the people in the "desirable" parts of California have so thoroughly ****ed up the entire state.

Originally Posted by pgg

I'm not in the midwest, but I might as well be. Cowtown CA has a lot in common with flyover country.

The locals here tell me that "cows are the smell of money" and they grow to like it.

I haven't grown to like it in the last 2 1/2 years ... but I can tell you that the higher pay, lower cost of living, and lack of people/traffic has really helped encourage my olfactory fatigue. I'd even consider staying forever, if not for the fact that the people in the "desirable" parts of California have so thoroughly ****ed up the entire state.

Looked at a bunch of jobs near my folks who reside in Los Altos, Ca. Holy Crap! No way I'd move there. Outrageous price for land/homes. 1 million dollar homes gets you nothing compared to the compound with acreage you can get in certain places in the midwest. The point is, you can get a nice house for a fraction of what you would pay in Ca. Then you have Ca taxes in both income and real estate. Cost of daily living is exponentially higher and then for some... the long commutes.

Of course my parents love it so much they would never move and plan on retireing there. So it is clearly a personal decision.

FWIW, the midwest isn't as bad as some people say it is. It's all about perspective. If you consider 10-14 weeks of Vaca with a fat income and relatively good lifestyle... well, it simply isn't that cut and dry to compare it to other more desirable locations... at least for me.

For me, the decision would be simple if looking at Kaiser (lower income and 3.5 weeks vaca ).

As I've mentioned before, I think a new grad with 250K+ in debt should try and get their neck above the water and build a solid liquid emergency fund. 3-4 years down the line you can move someplace else and enjoy it a bit more without the stress of feeling financially unsound.

Disclosure: I know very little about Keiser and mean no disrespect for anybody working there. I'm sure that for many, it is a good system to work in.

My 2 cents.

What is considered cowtown in Ca.?

Bakersfield, Madera, Visalia...? I mean, you need a big enough community to have a hospital that would employ an anesthesia group. I bet there are some hidden gems in some of those places.

Originally Posted by sevoflurane

What is considered cowtown in Ca.?

Bakersfield, Madera, Visalia...? I mean, you need a big enough community to have a hospital that would employ an anesthesia group. I bet there are some hidden gems in some of those places.

Visalia is the closest pseudo-big town to us. Fresno is about 45 min away.

Adventist Health seems to have gobbled up a bunch of the area west of Visalia and south of Fresno. They seem to have a good thing going, and are profitable, but I often wonder how sustainable it all is. This is not a rich area. Huge # of self/no-pay patients. The anesthesia group I moonlight for is subsidized by Adventist ... but as a moonlighter I don't have any real info on the details of their contract, other than that a subsidy exists, and is big. If I could work full time at the rates they pay me for part time, I'd be looking at $350-400K for 11/12 months working. That's just as a disposable locums guy, I'm sure the partners do far better.

But there's that subsidy again, so who knows how secure they are. The group at Kaweah Delta in Visalia got underbid by an AMC recently. I'm not sure the same level of vulnerability exists here, but supposedly they didn't expect to be out of work either.

For the time being I'll just enjoy the $150K the Navy pays me, plus a bit of moonlighting on the side. We're still looking at the midwest, leaning toward western Montana. Have another trip planned in March for locale hunting.

I will miss the warm weather though.

Originally Posted by sevoflurane

What is considered cowtown in Ca.?

Also everything north of Sacramento is pretty rural, even the coastal areas, and that's a huge zone. The Sierras are nice, and very rural. My in-laws live on the west side, just north of Yosemite and have had a ranch there for a couple generations now.

We just spent a week on the east side of the Sierras attempting to ski & snowboard on an 18" base (stayed at June Lake, near Mammoth). Beautiful area ... but not a lot of good employment opportunities for us.

CA is more than San Diego / LA / SF, the state is just huge and has everything. It is an awesome playground. But taxes are awful all around, cost of living is high, and there's a lot of nanny-state garbage to put up with. We may stick around until 2015 for family and educational reasons ...

The salary is fantastic. They really care about patient safety. Fantastic benefits. Can't beat it. I get 12 wks vacation and make only slightly less then folks in 60hr/wk private practice. I can take time off when I need to. I make great money. I have fantastic job security. Great people to work with and you become a partner with a vested interest in the organization doing well, which makes you want to get better and better because you share in the profit of the group.

Also you don't to procedures just to make money. It's better for patients and docs. You get to focus on being an doctor not billing people to make money. Feels great!

Recommend to anyone!

Originally Posted by sandrak

The salary is fantastic. They really care about patient safety. Fantastic benefits. Can't beat it. I get 12 wks vacation and make only slightly less then folks in 60hr/wk private practice. I can take time off when I need to. I make great money. I have fantastic job security. Great people to work with and you become a partner with a vested interest in the organization doing well, which makes you want to get better and better because you share in the profit of the group.

Also you don't to procedures just to make money. It's better for patients and docs. You get to focus on being an doctor not billing people to make money. Feels great!

Recommend to anyone!

What job and where are you referring to? Kaiser or something else?

Originally Posted by DrRobert

Wow. This thread is making me thankful I'm in the midwest with high salary, great benefits, 38-42 hour work weeks, and 12 weeks vacation.

How many miles to the nearest big city? Big city as in, say, a major league sports team or something similar.