Welcome to SDN. I interviewed with the Somnia group in Everett, WA, and I have posted some of my findings in different threads here. Try searching for Somnia and Everett.
My
most recent post on this place was on CRNA issues there.
Briefly, Somnia is a relatively new, New York based AMC who traditionally has setup ambulatory and office based anesthesia services. They recently expanded into hospital based services as well.
In Everett, they run a side-by-side model where CRNA's provide independent (opt-out) care alongside the anesthesiologists who do their own cases. This will, in all likelihood, be the same in the state where Somnia recently expanded. The "worker-bee" anesthesiologist has no day to day interaction with the CRNA's other than seeing them across the PACU etc.
There are two "managing partners" who's role and income are unclear. Knowing where these two partners practiced previously, Somnia must be paying them pretty well. When I interviewed, I met with these two partners, but they told me that they have no role in hiring other than okaying applicants. The hiring decisions come from Somnia Inc. This was born out by other individuals who interviewed there. Once okayed to work there, I had to contact "Guido" with Somnia who tried to negotiate an employment package that I couldn't refuse. It was nigh unto impossible to get in touch with anyone at Somnia by phone or email. Eventually I emailed every recruiter listed on their website before I finally got someone to respond. If they are that hard to talk with when they are recruiting you, can you imagine what it must be like if you are an employee with a grievance???
Financially the salary they offered was competitive for the region. It was probably at about the 75th %ile for income in the region... EXCEPT... it wasn't until I pinned them down about it that I realized they are negotiating an entire package. Once you have agreed to a salary, all benefits are then subtracted from that final number. It isn't exactly negotiating in bad faith, but neither were they forthcoming about it or about the actual cost of any benefits.
The only area where they were frankly untruthful with me is that the managing partners told me that there would not be a no-compete clause in my contract. Somnia told me that that type of contract was only offered to the initial employees, and for all current and future contracts a non-compete clause would be part of the package. I honestly believe that the managing partners were unaware of this and were not lying to me, but at a minimum it demonstrates just how screwed up a system it is when the managing partners are not informed of changes in contract negotiation practices.
Organizationally, it is pretty confusing. The chain of command is completely opaque to the interviewee and, in fact, to the employees that I spoke to as well. If problems arise at the hospital, I do not know if the hospital admin talks to the faceless admins in NY, the "managing partners", or to the individual employee. Since you are not an employee of the hospital, nor are the "managing partners" really your supervisors, I can see a lot of room for confusion. They were not willing to offer me a contract 6 months out, preferring to hire people that were immediately available, even though they had a historical need stretching beyond six months. There was no way I was going to turn down other offers in the hopes that Somnia would have something for me when I was ready to join the workforce.
I was pretty blunt with them that they will have a very hard time recruiting quality applicants if they were not willing to offer positions in a reasonable time frame.
How can you recruit top notch graduates then? The prime hiring season for people coming out of training is December through February when we negotiate contracts for the upcoming year. Last year, the only graduating trainees from my program that took jobs after this season were individuals who were either desperate to be in one specific location and took abusive, sub-par jobs, or were sub-par trainees who were declined jobs while there were still good candidates on the market. Who am I to tell you how to run your company, but if you want to recruit top tier graduates, you will have a challenge if you do not want to negotiate contracts during the prime season.
I am a top-tier graduate with an impressive CV, and I have been overwhelmed with offers from across the country. Most groups have even been willing to adjust the starting date to late autumn at my request. If you want to recruit individuals like myself, you may want to consider adjusting your strategy. If I were to hold out for a position with you in July only to find out that you did not have a job for me, then it would be difficult for me to find even a sub-par job.
Their response was very telling
I absolutely understand what you saying and to get good quality it means we have to wait awhile, Somnia does welcome new graduates, however at times it is difficult to make an offer so far out when our staffing needs are immediate
Interpreted, quality doctors are not as important to us as warm bodies in the rooms. Their response was sent to me January 28th, and I was requesting a start date of July 1st.
From my friend who worked there, the call was significantly more frequent than promised, the environment was not particularly supportive, and "POD, if you have any other options you really should take one of them."
Take what I said with a grain of salt. I am particularly unhappy with the way they dealt with me (it was quite a contrast to the private groups who went out of their way to work with me and actually RECRUIT me) and, though I have tried to be fair and measured in my statements about them, some of my contempt for the way they dealt with me shows through.
If you are looking to be an employee with no role with the greater community of physicians within your system, a Somnia gig may be right up your alley. Or if, like me, you are looking for the best heart gig in Seattle, you might be willing to put up with their weaknesses and lower income levels.
You may not have an option to join the Somnia group if you have a non-compete through your previous group. I am certain that Somnia isn't going to buy out that clause for you, and I doubt you want to spend that much of your own money.
Hope that helps. Feel free to PM me if you have questions that you would rather not post in a public forum. I will be happy to try to answer them.
- pod
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