Kaiser

[Newpathdoc2016]

Anyone has idea of how much Kaiser pays in California. My attendings say they pay a lot but I would like to know the number.

Thanks in advance.

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[LADoc00]

starts at just under 200K and ends up at 300K depending on duties when you make "partner" with KP medical grp.

if that is "a lot" to your attendings...dunno..

 

[gschl1234]

In the past 3-4 years I've known several newly graduated fellows who have gotten offers from 280-295K in northern California.

 

[LADoc00]

In the past 3-4 years I've known several newly graduated fellows who have gotten offers from 280-295K in northern California.

Would clarify if those are starting base offers vs. salary levels they end up after getting voted into KPmedicalgrp.

Sounds high for starting base offers. But I have a long time Kaiser guy working for me now so I will ask.

 

[gschl1234]

Would clarify if those are starting base offers vs. salary levels they end up after getting voted into KPmedicalgrp.

Sounds high for starting base offers. But I have a long time Kaiser guy working for me now so I will ask.

Those salaries were base. But my co-fellows said after they get voted in their salaries don't go up by that much. While I interviewed at private practices two years ago many pathologists who graduated training 15-20 years ago were fairly misinformed about Kaiser. The Kaiser of 15-20 years ago sounds quite different from the current entity. Kaiser pay also sounds fairly variable depending on region.

 

[LADoc00]

So the current Kaiser range in Norcal is starting 160K, yes starting 160K. To get higher you have to submit paperwork to the PIC and aside from some crazy situation, it is almost universally denied. Meaning if you have 20 years of experience at place X and go to work at Kaiser tomorrow, you start at 160K. Max is 180K assuming the PIC and your chair grant a bonus at employment.

Once you are voted in, the pay is just north of 300. How much north depends on duties. YMMV. There is an additional option to buy KPmg stock which most do but you are limited in how much you can buy and who you sell it back to.

5 years to be vested in the Plan 1 retirement, which is what you want. That is the pension program. Plans 2-3 are modified private sector type 401Ks.

17 years or so to be vested in the healthcare plan.

that info is literally from KP.

 

[univlad]

How long does it take to get voted in typically?

So the current Kaiser range in Norcal is starting 160K, yes starting 160K. To get higher you have to submit paperwork to the PIC and aside from some crazy situation, it is almost universally denied. Meaning if you have 20 years of experience at place X and go to work at Kaiser tomorrow, you start at 160K. Max is 180K assuming the PIC and your chair grant a bonus at employment.

Once you are voted in, the pay is just north of 300. How much north depends on duties. YMMV. There is an additional option to buy KPmg stock which most do but you are limited in how much you can buy and who you sell it back to.

5 years to be vested in the Plan 1 retirement, which is what you want. That is the pension program. Plans 2-3 are modified private sector type 401Ks.

17 years or so to be vested in the healthcare plan.

that info is literally from KP.

 

[Mace1370]

So the current Kaiser range in Norcal is starting 160K, yes starting 160K. To get higher you have to submit paperwork to the PIC and aside from some crazy situation, it is almost universally denied. Meaning if you have 20 years of experience at place X and go to work at Kaiser tomorrow, you start at 160K. Max is 180K assuming the PIC and your chair grant a bonus at employment.

Once you are voted in, the pay is just north of 300. How much north depends on duties. YMMV. There is an additional option to buy KPmg stock which most do but you are limited in how much you can buy and who you sell it back to.

5 years to be vested in the Plan 1 retirement, which is what you want. That is the pension program. Plans 2-3 are modified private sector type 401Ks.

17 years or so to be vested in the healthcare plan.

that info is literally from KP.

It will be a while before I switch over to the private sector, but out of curiosity how many people end up being voted in? Is it assumed you will get it assuming you are competent and are a reasonable person to work with, or do only a select few get voted in?

 

[LADoc00]

if I understood what they were telling, almost everyone has the option of "buying in" after around 2 years in KP medical grp, meaning salary bump up to the 300 level (read NOT 300 base as someone is claiming above..).

so if you arent a total cluster f-, this would imply you are automatically voted into the partnership of the med grp side with the associated benefits. THIS is also related to the element/time point which ramps up the pay so again the prior poster is incorrect.

Although theoretically someone might decide not to buy in, they might still get the pay bump, in actual practice everyone buys in as there is really no downside (unlike perhaps there might be in a private practice that you think is overvalued or poorly run).

I had heard people claiming the base salaries for KP were in the 300s and thought that was a total BS at the time so it was good to get validation today, yes that is BS from KP itself.

 

[Newpathdoc2016]

Can somebody explain what "buy in" really means at KP? How much does it cost? Thanks.

 

[coroner]

...almost everyone has the option of "buying in" after around 2 years in KP medical grp, meaning salary bump up to the 300 level

That's not to shabby when compared to academia which has a lower ceiling and even some private groups which likely have a higher ceiling, but average 3-5 years for partnership. A former co-resident of mine who works for them told me that their pension plan is pretty sweet once vested. Another thing I heard was they enforce a mandatory retirement policy i.e. partners who've been their for X number of years must retire after a certain age (60-65). They might even make you sign such an agreement. This prevents old timers from hanging around. Dunno if anybody else can confirm this...

 

[LADoc00]

That's not to shabby when compared to academia which has a lower ceiling and even some private groups which likely have a higher ceiling, but average 3-5 years for partnership. A former co-resident of mine who works for them told me that their pension plan is pretty sweet once vested. Another thing I heard was they enforce a mandatory retirement policy i.e. partners who've been their for X number of years must retire after a certain age (60-65). They might even make you sign such an agreement. This prevents old timers from hanging around. Dunno if anybody else can confirm this...

Yes KP does enforce a mandatory retirement but how exactly this is done I am not sure. I know the guy I spoke with did not want to talk about any specifics of this.

And yes the pension is very sweet. That would be main benefit of working there along with the healthcare bene.

 

[yaah]

I think mandatory retirements are difficult to legally enforce. You can base it on competency and such but it's probably onerous. I suspect every state is different but there are age-discrimination federal statutes which I think make it a problem if you say "you have to retire at 65" or whatever.

 

[deleted314957]

I think mandatory retirements are difficult to legally enforce. You can base it on competency and such but it's probably onerous. I suspect every state is different but there are age-discrimination federal statutes which I think make it a problem if you say "you have to retire at 65" or whatever.

They are very difficult to enforce. The way we go people to let go was that we had corporate by-law that you can no longer be on the board of directors after age 65. All partners were on the board and if you were not on the board, you could not be a partner. They could hang around but they would only get base salary and no bonus or directors fees which was the lions share of partner compensation.

 

[icpshootyz]

They are very difficult to enforce. The way we go people to let go was that we had corporate by-law that you can no longer be on the board of directors after age 65. All partners were on the board and if you were not on the board, you could not be a partner. They could hang around but they would only get base salary and no bonus or directors fees which was the lions share of partner compensation.

Same here. Our partner positions end at age 65. After that you are welcome to stay on as an employed pathologist, but you no longer enjoy the benefits of partnership and you no longer have voting rights.