What I'm getting from the replies is that it's important to know the call expectations and pay that goes along with extra call or staying late, BUT that stuff will not get written into the contract. Is that accurate? If so, it comes down to how much I trust them? I trust the former group president and the people in the group, but who do I talk to from the AMC side of things since the recruiter seems to know nothing? Is there typically a point person or regional manger that has the ultimate decision making power? I just don't see why they would pay me for staying late or coming in post call or picking up extra calls when a doc quits or retires if it's not in my contract.
RussianJoo, it seems like you work for an AMC that has kept their word and pays for extra work despite it not being in your contract. Who did you talk to and what made you trust them? Good to hear that you took a chance and it has worked out so far.
For those of you out there working for AMCs, what provisions did you have placed in your contract that have given you some peace of mind and have lead to a relatively fair job situation? Any absolute deal breakers I should be aware of?
I would talk to the current chief of anesthesia at that hospital (it's probably the old group's president/chief). In my group the chief of anesthesia signs off on the extra payments and it gets scanned and emailed to corporate to be confirmed and executed. So if you trust the current anesthesiologists in that group and they tell you that they've been paid extra to do x y and z, and that they're expected to take x amount of calls and get paid extra for taking more or staying after a certain hour, then you will get paid extra to do the same. Maybe ask them if they had those things written in their contract and if they didn't eiter than rest assured that it will all be okay.
Also, it's surprizing that an AMC is using a 3rd party recruiter, they usually have their own recruiters which should know more, and if they don't know anything, then you should be talking to the Vice Chief Medical Officer of the AMC, the corporate guy, or someone along those lines. I have the cell phone number of my Vice Chief medical officer and even though he doesn't always answer his phone or text me back right away, I know that he sees my text and eventually does get back to me.
Another thing to ask is how your group counts calls, for example for me to get paid extra, I have to do more than 4 calls a month. However, this is averaged out over a quarter (i.e. 3months) so if I only take 3 calls one month the following month I could take 5 calls and not get paid for that 5th call because it's an average over a quarter.
At the end of the day you're working with the anesthesiologists at that hospital and the Chief and Vice Chief of the anesthesia department at your hospital have some pull with the AMC, and also run things how they want to. So if you trust them, then you shouldn't worry, and everything they tell you will happen no matter if it's written on a paper or not.
My situation is probably pretty unique, I trusted the people because I've known the guys in the group that got taken over for over 5 years and I fully trust what they say. I also have mutual friends with the Vice Chief Medical Officer of the AMC and those people have vouched for him, and lastly I really wanted to be in a certain area, the contract I was offered by the AMC was significantly better than the other offers that I had in that area. I knew I would work hard no matter where I ended up (meaning the same amount of call and hours) so I just cared about salary, benefits and vacation time. The only time I was worried was when I didn't have a contract on hand and only had the letter of intent. I had to make stuff up about my lawyer being out of town or not getting back to me because the deadline to sign my other contract was overdue before I got my AMC contract, and I didn't want to reject that offer before I had a signed contract from the AMC.
Lastly I think everyone starting a new job in a new place no matter who you are should not plant any roots in the area until they know that this job will work out or that there will be another job available in that same area. Meaning don't buy a house right away, rent for a year or so first, don't spend money on expensive toys before you even get the first pay check. If you're willing to walk away if the AMC doesn't live up to their promises then the only thing you have to lose is some time. Worst case that can happen is that they don't pay you for extra call or whatever they promise you, start looking for another job and quit that one once you find a new job.