Primary Care is a very lucrative area for a PA to be in if you know how to market yourself. A PA can easily make 100K in family practice but it requires working your way up, showing your value, being willing to walk if you don't get your share of the loot, and most of all, being an excellent clinician. If your patients like you a lot, and if you develop a patient base that keeps you seeing an average of 30 ppd, then you can make 6 figs, or at least 85-90K. A PA averaging 30 ppd in FP is very reasonable, and generally will collect for their practice anywhere from 300-400K per year. After your overhead, there is plenty of room for profit for the PA. You just have to find the right doc who is willing to let you loose once you are comfortable, and who is willing to see your value. Unfortunately, there are many docs that use a PA and pay them the base rate, but expects the world from them. These docs keep a PA for about one year, at which time the PA finds a better job. Thus, the doc thinks that this is more profitable in the end. The docs who do the best with PA's understand their value, and understand that continuity of care for their patients is probably worth having to give up some of the loot. If any of you are med students or residents, please hear what I am saying. If you treat a PA right, give them room to grow, and be their colleague, they will stay with you forever. Your patients will be happier because they will have found a permanent provider in your PA, and not some PA who is new every year when they come in for a visit.
But the moral of my story here is that PA's in primary care can make what specialist PA's make for less hours of work. It just takes time.
Matt
