Cost of living adjustment

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coffeebythelake

coffeebythelake

I'm not a word-mincer
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Any of you guys getting on, or in discussion about getting one? Inflation was something like ~9% on 2021.
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My academic job gives you a ~1% raise each year, if you get academically promoted you get something like a 5% raise. The nurses only got like 3-4%. You know who got the biggest ‘market adjustment’? The APNs of course! But even that was less than 9% so everyone has less purchasing power than last year.
 
ambiturner said:
My academic job gives you a ~1% raise each year, if you get academically promoted you get something like a 5% raise. The nurses only got like 3-4%. You know who got the biggest ‘market adjustment’? The APNs of course! But even that was less than 9% so everyone has less purchasing power than last year.
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the biggest gains in salary definitely not in healthcare
 
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As an employee of a medical system and now on salary I believe the lack of COLA will truly hurt your real income over the next 5 years. Without a COLA your income will stagnate as the cost of everything else keeps going up. That is the very definition of reduced buying power. Real Estate is skyrocketing in cost. How is a new grad supposed to succeed out there with such a scam.

AMCs are notorious for this as are some academic/hospital positions. The prices of almost everything are way up except my salary. While I have a large investment portfolio to offset this scam many others do not. Personally, I am happy to have a limited number of years doing this gig fulltime so the inflation of 7-8% last year plus the inflation of 5%? in 2022 should not impact me much but I do feel for my colleagues stuck in this situation. A 12% reduction in purchasing power over 2 years is no joke.
 
Here is some basic math for you. An anesthesiologist earns $400,000 in income/salary at the start of 2020. If inflation runs at 5% annually for 5 years, 2020-2025, what salary does he/she need at the end of 5 years to have the same buying power as in 2020?

Answer: Inflation Calculator - Save Enough to Account for Inflation

$510,000 is the answer.

At 5% inflation over 10 years it gets much worse. That $400,000 salary is effectively worth $245,000 after 10 years (without a raise or COLA). Hence, if you NEVER get a COLA or a nice raise you are hosed.
 
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nimbus said:
We’ve had COLAs written into our commercial contracts over the past 10+ years. Even though they are only 2-3% per year, over the years they have added up.
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I have no doubt the AMCs, hospitals, academic centers, etc have COLAs in their contracts. But, they rarely pass along those COLAs to their employees. Even when they do the COLA that the employee receives is less than the COLA the employer/company gets. It's another way they cheat the worker and diminsh their standard of living.
 
Do reimbursements from private insurers ever take this in to account?
 
dabears505 said:
Payout? Are your hours better because of a slowdown in cases?
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Nope - a pay cut in my shop. As for hours - we'd been a little slow and pushed off of days, but we don't get paid for days we don't work. That said, some of our previously compensated tasks have now had associated pay reduced. In other words we were told we'll be making less for the same work, with no COLA certainly either.

So they watered down our pepsi with sewage, if you will.
 
BLADEMDA said:
As an employee of a medical system and now on salary I believe the lack of COLA will truly hurt your real income over the next 5 years. Without a COLA your income will stagnate as the cost of everything else keeps going up. That is the very definition of reduced buying power. Real Estate is skyrocketing in cost. How is a new grad supposed to succeed out there with such a scam.

AMCs are notorious for this as are some academic/hospital positions. The prices of almost everything are way up except my salary. While I have a large investment portfolio to offset this scam many others do not. Personally, I am happy to have a limited number of years doing this gig fulltime so the inflation of 7-8% last year plus the inflation of 5%? in 2022 should not impact me much but I do feel for my colleagues stuck in this situation. A 12% reduction in purchasing power over 2 years is no joke.
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lack of cola is nothing new though in our specialty. plus the lacking reimbursement increases, purchasing power for anesthesiologists have gone way down over the years
 
anbuitachi said:
lack of cola is nothing new though in our specialty. plus the lacking reimbursement increases, purchasing power for anesthesiologists have gone way down over the years
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What physicians tend to do less compared to nurses is vote with their feet. Nursing incomes have skyrocketed during covid. Pay raises. Crisis pay. Etc. For us? Nothing
 
coffeebythelake said:
What physicians tend to do less compared to nurses is vote with their feet. Nursing incomes have skyrocketed during covid. Pay raises. Crisis pay. Etc. For us? Nothing
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i complain to my boss a lot. i complain openly in public often too. i complained to HR.
problem is majority of doctors dont have the time to fight the problem seriously. they dont have time, they start late, and they are dragged down by loans. the entire system is kind of broken against doctors. i been in a negotiation with hospital for 1.5 years now asking for a raise. but if they dont want to give, theres nothing i can do except quit and find a new job, and they'll replace me with one of the many new grads graduating each year. meanwhile nurses have their powerful union behind them, and can strike. even if they dont strike, they can call out sick a lot

nurses work 36-40 hr weeks, plenty of their programs pay for education of some sort (a couple got phd, and masters), none of jobs here pay for doctors education in something else and we often dont have the time anyway. nurses have time (in both workweek and age) to fight this stuff. there are a ton of nurses in leadership positions
 
coffeebythelake said:
What physicians tend to do less compared to nurses is vote with their feet. Nursing incomes have skyrocketed during covid. Pay raises. Crisis pay. Etc. For us? Nothing
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I voted with my feet and started my first full-time locum job. Get paid hourly whether I was doing cases or trading stocks. Don't get mad at the slow surgeons as long as they are not killing the pts. 5pm case, surgeon did not show up until 7pm, no problem. 2 hours' free $.

Downside is a few days away from home per week. Food not great. Surprising point is that spouse magically starts to clean the house and wash dishes. I guess everyone adapts.
 
anbuitachi said:
i complain to my boss a lot. i complain openly in public often too. i complained to HR.
problem is majority of doctors dont have the time to fight the problem seriously. they dont have time, they start late, and they are dragged down by loans. the entire system is kind of broken against doctors. i been in a negotiation with hospital for 1.5 years now asking for a raise. but if they dont want to give, theres nothing i can do except quit and find a new job, and they'll replace me with one of the many new grads graduating each year. meanwhile nurses have their powerful union behind them, and can strike. even if they dont strike, they can call out sick a lot

nurses work 36-40 hr weeks, plenty of their programs pay for education of some sort (a couple got phd, and masters), none of jobs here pay for doctors education in something else and we often dont have the time anyway. nurses have time (in both workweek and age) to fight this stuff. there are a ton of nurses in leadership positions
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So why don't you quit? A taylor swift type hottie drags you there?
 
coffeebythelake said:
What physicians tend to do less compared to nurses is vote with their feet. Nursing incomes have skyrocketed during covid. Pay raises. Crisis pay. Etc. For us? Nothing
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You might see more of this if we actually get non-compete reform (which we won't). Switching jobs as a physician is much more difficult too with credentialing taking months before you can even get started working a new job, need a license for each state etc.
 
anbuitachi said:
i complain to my boss a lot. i complain openly in public often too. i complained to HR.
problem is majority of doctors dont have the time to fight the problem seriously. they dont have time, they start late, and they are dragged down by loans. the entire system is kind of broken against doctors. i been in a negotiation with hospital for 1.5 years now asking for a raise. but if they dont want to give, theres nothing i can do except quit and find a new job, and they'll replace me with one of the many new grads graduating each year. meanwhile nurses have their powerful union behind them, and can strike. even if they dont strike, they can call out sick a lot

nurses work 36-40 hr weeks, plenty of their programs pay for education of some sort (a couple got phd, and masters), none of jobs here pay for doctors education in something else and we often dont have the time anyway. nurses have time (in both workweek and age) to fight this stuff. there are a ton of nurses in leadership positions
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Can you move? Even an hour away? You got young kids and need family help? Your pay raise may be able to cover a nanny and you may still come out on top. Why are you so stuck at a job you hate? Is your spouse making a killing on Walstreet?
 
chocomorsel said:
Can you move? Even an hour away? You got young kids and need family help? Your pay raise may be able to cover a nanny and you may still come out on top. Why are you so stuck at a job you hate? Is your spouse making a killing on Walstreet?
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🤣 at the spouse part. need to support her
its cause i dont feel like driving. havent driven in decades
 
coffeebythelake said:
What physicians tend to do less compared to nurses is vote with their feet. Nursing incomes have skyrocketed during covid. Pay raises. Crisis pay. Etc. For us? Nothing
Click to expand...

Nurses are way better at arbitrage than we are. Our hospitals are acting like they’re doing us a favor to allow us to work for them.
 
coffeebythelake said:
What physicians tend to do less compared to nurses is vote with their feet. Nursing incomes have skyrocketed during covid. Pay raises. Crisis pay. Etc. For us? Nothing
Click to expand...


If someone across town is offering 2-3x my current income, I’d seriously consider it. Sadly that’s not the case. But it is for our nurses.
 
nimbus said:
If someone across town is offering 2-3x my current income, I’d seriously consider it. Sadly that’s not the case. But it is for our nurses.
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What’s crazy is that a lot of nurses are making much more the we do. An icu travel rn friend of mine is pulling in 10k/week for 48 hrs of work. Three month contract with option to renew… all expenses paid.
 
kidthor said:
What’s crazy is that a lot of nurses are making much more the we do. An icu travel rn friend of mine is pulling in 10k/week for 48 hrs of work. Three month contract with option to renew… all expenses paid.
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Eventually this will damage the market very much. Not today, not tomorrow, but certainly in the next 2-4 years. It will be really ugly.
 
kidthor said:
Nurses are way better at arbitrage than we are. Our hospitals are acting like they’re doing us a favor to allow us to work for them.
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It’s hard to compare us to nurses when we have non-compete clauses, arduous credentialing, state licensing barriers, and the general thinking that a physician who changes jobs with any sort of frequency must have some sort of “red flag.”

I’m of the belief that if you are an employee, you should meet with your employer annually AS A GROUP and discuss things like compensation, workload, and any other quality of life issues. Designate one or two people as the point person to lead the meetings. Spend a couple weeks before any such meeting gathering points and asks that you would like to bring up at these meetings. The employers will try to peel you off into smaller cohorts, but it’s important to maintain the full group. You’d be surprised at how much you can accomplish when approaching the employer as a unified group.
 
kidthor said:
What’s crazy is that a lot of nurses are making much more the we do. An icu travel rn friend of mine is pulling in 10k/week for 48 hrs of work. Three month contract with option to renew… all expenses paid.
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It's unsustainable and everyone knows it. Hospitals are getting "travel RN fatigue" the way the general population is getting "pandemic fatigue".

There's a seething rage building in the RNs who can't/don't travel.

I don't know if the break will come this year or next year or in 3 years but it's coming and it'll all end in (travel RN) tears.
 
OptionOffense said:
Eventually this will damage the market very much. Not today, not tomorrow, but certainly in the next 2-4 years. It will be really ugly.
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How does that saying go? Make hay while the sun is shining? Right now nurses are in very high demand and they are taking advantage of that demand. Predicting when that demand will end is like trying to predict when the bull market will end.
 
GravelRider said:
It’s hard to compare us to nurses when we have non-compete clauses, arduous credentialing, state licensing barriers, and the general thinking that a physician who changes jobs with any sort of frequency must have some sort of “red flag.”

I’m of the belief that if you are an employee, you should meet with your employer annually AS A GROUP and discuss things like compensation, workload, and any other quality of life issues. Designate one or two people as the point person to lead the meetings. Spend a couple weeks before any such meeting gathering points and asks that you would like to bring up at these meetings. The employers will try to peel you off into smaller cohorts, but it’s important to maintain the full group. You’d be surprised at how much you can accomplish when approaching the employer as a unified group.
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Even as a group, how much leverage do you have? I approached one of my colleagues about this and his/her response was I dont need to make waves, "I need this job, it works for me"
 
pgg said:
it'll all end in (travel RN) tears.
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I don't think so. I think it will end in hospital tears. The nurses WILL win. Why? Because there is simply not enough of them. There aren't. It is too easy for them to move on. The system and obama-care created this. They can become clipboard nurses, chart reviewers, school nursing, online med rec nurses, online nurse practitioners or simply leave the field entirely. Anything but remain a bedside nurse. This is like watching a slow train wreck in the making. We can make bold moves to mitigate this but we are just simply too weak as a nation politically to make any bold moves.
 
OptionOffense said:
I don't think so. I think it will end in hospital tears. The nurses WILL win. Why? Because there is simply not enough of them. There aren't. It is too easy for them to move on. The system and obama-care created this. They can become clipboard nurses, chart reviewers, school nursing, online med rec nurses, online nurse practitioners or simply leave the field entirely. Anything but remain a bedside nurse. This is like watching a slow train wreck in the making. We can make bold moves to mitigate this but we are just simply too weak as a nation politically to make any bold moves.
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Serious question. What does Obamacare have to do with this?
 
OptionOffense said:
I don't think so. I think it will end in hospital tears. The nurses WILL win. Why? Because there is simply not enough of them. There aren't. It is too easy for them to move on. The system and obama-care created this. They can become clipboard nurses, chart reviewers, school nursing, online med rec nurses, online nurse practitioners or simply leave the field entirely. Anything but remain a bedside nurse. This is like watching a slow train wreck in the making. We can make bold moves to mitigate this but we are just simply too weak as a nation politically to make any bold moves.
Click to expand...

i agree. nurses got a huge advantage on this. soon their regular wage will be comparable to ours. hospitals are screwed. and hospital anesthesiologists wont be getting raises, and maybe cuts cause they got to pay insane salaries to nurses.
 
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