It took me one year of getting lied to and watching books get cooked to desire LESS of a PP scenario. The guaranteed referrals, limited administrative work and job security are worth a LOT to me after going through that first year. I was always worried about if the practice would keep getting referrals since all of the PCPs and surgeons were owned by the major hospitals. There were constant concerns about staffing, advertising, kissing referring doc a$$, buy in price, practice sustainability, etc, etc, etc. It was way more stress than it was worth (especially since I made no money). I am not a hospital employee but in a large multi specialty group consisting mostly of PCPs. Now I get a monthly statement related to productivity and who knows if that's cooked. At least it doesn't put my overhead at >80K per month like the last place!!!!
Yes but in the VA you get a set salary whether you're doing administrative crap or seeing patients. It's not a eat what you kill mentality.
Initial salary at the VA is based on a national pay table with primary specialties with 5 tiers each. Pain Management is not ANYWHERE on the table, only primary specialties. So, for PM&R, I believe the tiers are something like from 170 - 250k. To go higher, your Service Chief (boss) can fill out some forms and request the regional VA to approve a higher salary. This can be quite political because the salary for a Service chief tops out at about 250k, regardless of the specialty. So you really need have the right people and the right situation to be able to successfully negotiate a higher salary. Sometimes saving massive amounts of money won't cut it -unless you are truly walking out the door. But some people (like clubdeac) can do it. Anesthesia pay scale is something like 250-350k.
