Transition to Greener Grass Questions

[Homunculus]

Greetings. Finally made it back from my 9 month deployment, still bitter from my denied ETP to split my deployment (long story, another post) and recently was hosted by a civilian hospital system needing my skills as a peds subspecialist and not a GMO. needless to say like my previous experience of interviewing at a civilian facility, the differences between them and the .mil are night and day.

first, their offer would be a 60% pay raise over what i make now. it's 6 figures more. base salary plus wRVU productivity bonus if I exceed a certain number of RVUs. I'm currently in the negotiation phase, but one of the items is relocation expenses, which they're willing to shell out over 5k for. it's a reimbursement though-- which brings up the issue of my military move. since they are not keen on rolling it into my signing bonus, and being averse to leaving any money on the table, the only way i could think of to somehow pocket this is by doing a DITY move and double dipping reimbursement. anyone had any experience with this before? i can try leaning a little more on the convert the moving expenses into the bonus thing but at the moment I'm trying to squeeze the turnip a little on base pay and what the wRVU's compensation will be.

my consultant is trying to keep me in, but ultimately can't promise anything. all they can really do is try to get you to a certain location-- otherwise the BDE and WTU surgeon slots still need bodies and whatever they may tell you i would take with a grain of salt, lol. been around too long to trust anyone when it comes to FORSCOM raising the MEDCOM cupboard.

I'm also now looking for Reserve IMA or TPU or Guard positions to finish off a reserve retirement and not throw my years away, but might look into other branches. one of the PROFIS folks i deployed with was offered a slot in her local Air Guard unit, which i don't see doing 9 months deployments anytime soon. the reserve/guard people i ran into while deployed were all (mostly) on 3 month rotations which i feel is doable but im pretty averse to wasting 9 months over there again. I've spent almost 2 years doing deployment crap and am pretty much burned out/compassion fatigued when it comes to sick call and GMO medicine. has anyone done the free agent switch to a different service?

--your friendly neighborhood sand on one side of the fence, grass on the other caveman

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[Cooperd0g]

The old DITY is now the Personally Procured Move (PPM). The main difference is that you aren't required to actually do the move yourself as was expected with the DITY. With a PPM you can hire a legit mover to do all the packing and shipping. You choose whoever you want and submit all the weight information to the mil. The mil will pay you 90% of what their costs would have been. But since it is out of pocket up front, you'll also have the receipts to get the relocation bonus you are talking about. Unless you are able to talk them into throwing the relocation bonus as cash up front, I would do the PPM as you were considering.

 

[d2305]

My estimate is that you only need about 5 years to retire. Air Guard or Navy are options. Age 60 sounded like a long time, but it isn't.

 

[armyvascsurg]

If they really want you, rolling the 5k into a signing bonus or first year's compensation shouldn't be a problem. I got relocation and health insurance benefit value (don't need it- have Tricare) rolled into my first year's compensation

 

[Gastrapathy]

I've become disillusioned with Navy Reserve. I'm also looking at the Air Guard. Its a secret club that is hard to even find the right person to talk to.

We offer $10k for relocation. Just a datapoint.

Is this employed or a partnership position?

 

[Homunculus]

thanks for the replies. I've done the partial DITY before (always have since we keep the important stuff with us) and if I can't get the reimbursement rolled into the signing bonus I will try a PPM and dual reimbursement, lol.

@d2305 - yeah, I need 6 good reserve years to finish things off for a reserve retirement. I think there is a 3 year stabilization of no deployments, then would walk the tightrope the last 3. like I said I could do 90 if that policy stays in place but 9 months again would lead to some psych issues, lol.

@Gastrapathy - it's an employed position. they want my spouse as well, and as a result our household income will nearly double. we'd be the first of our kind there (but not first in the market) so they need us to be competitive with the other show in town. it's a cool opportunity to carve out our own kingdom with a lot of autonomy and the money sure doesn't hurt. relocation is $6.5k, but my wife and I both have it. she separated last summer so technically didn't get her last move paid for (she stayed since I had another year to burn) so the .mil made out on that as well. i'll need to see ballpark what a move would cost out of pocket, then see how much relocation we can roll into signing. coming in not being fresh out of fellowship also helps in the negotiation department.

sorry to hear about the navy reserve-- the air guard thing was odd-- they actually reached out to her to see if she was interested. she's FP though so they may need her. I doubt anyone will need my specialty so i'll probably function as a GMO in whatever reserve/guard role I find.

my colleagues and consultant want me to stay-- but legit I feel this is an offer I can't refuse and ultimately they can't really do anything of significance to keep me in. on the bright side with the decreased number of my specialty it will open up several years of training opportunities for new fellows.

--your friendly neighborhood the green I see isn't grass it's cash!! caveman

 

[Gastrapathy]

I guess I'd just challenge you to open up your search a bit. There's a good thread in the practicing physicians forum on the subject.

You may be more valuable than you realize.

 

[Apollyon]

One of the guys with whom I work is Air NG (I'm EM), and he's deployed right now. However, by looking at the schedule, his deployment is 60 days (he left last 1/3 of October, and is back last third of December), or thereabouts. But it's definitely not 90 days.

Then again, this guy had played so fast and loose, they now make him physically provide his orders in person to the office (which is a ways away), because he'd said he was deploying in the past, and took a little bit of extra time, and got found out.

 

[Dr It]

IME 5K relocation is a joke.

10-15k is more in line with what I've seen.

Reimbursement vs just cutting you a check is usually a hospital policy/choice that may or may not be negotiable.

I would read the find print carefully on the DITY move paperwork before double dipping.

Good luck.

 

[Dr It]

BTW, NG is very state dependent on how good/bad it is.
You don't have to live in the state to join their guard, but you do want to be close enough to drill.
I have been amazed at how far some reservists (non AMEDD) drive to drill.

 

[d2305]

I've seen 05s & O6s drill without pay. Finding a pay billet (not sure what the Army term is) is key.

 

[SeminoleFan3]

Greetings. Finally made it back from my 9 month deployment, still bitter from my denied ETP to split my deployment (long story, another post) and recently was hosted by a civilian hospital system needing my skills as a peds subspecialist and not a GMO. needless to say like my previous experience of interviewing at a civilian facility, the differences between them and the .mil are night and day.

first, their offer would be a 60% pay raise over what i make now. it's 6 figures more. base salary plus wRVU productivity bonus if I exceed a certain number of RVUs. I'm currently in the negotiation phase, but one of the items is relocation expenses, which they're willing to shell out over 5k for. it's a reimbursement though-- which brings up the issue of my military move. since they are not keen on rolling it into my signing bonus, and being averse to leaving any money on the table, the only way i could think of to somehow pocket this is by doing a DITY move and double dipping reimbursement. anyone had any experience with this before? i can try leaning a little more on the convert the moving expenses into the bonus thing but at the moment I'm trying to squeeze the turnip a little on base pay and what the wRVU's compensation will be.

my consultant is trying to keep me in, but ultimately can't promise anything. all they can really do is try to get you to a certain location-- otherwise the BDE and WTU surgeon slots still need bodies and whatever they may tell you i would take with a grain of salt, lol. been around too long to trust anyone when it comes to FORSCOM raising the MEDCOM cupboard.

I'm also now looking for Reserve IMA or TPU or Guard positions to finish off a reserve retirement and not throw my years away, but might look into other branches. one of the PROFIS folks i deployed with was offered a slot in her local Air Guard unit, which i don't see doing 9 months deployments anytime soon. the reserve/guard people i ran into while deployed were all (mostly) on 3 month rotations which i feel is doable but im pretty averse to wasting 9 months over there again. I've spent almost 2 years doing deployment crap and am pretty much burned out/compassion fatigued when it comes to sick call and GMO medicine. has anyone done the free agent switch to a different service?

--your friendly neighborhood sand on one side of the fence, grass on the other caveman

Found the post! Did you ever figure out how to work this out (the relocation allowance and the military move)? We are now in the same position.

 

[Homunculus]

Found the post! Did you ever figure out how to work this out (the relocation allowance and the military move)? We are now in the same position.

so my wife and i accepted contracts with the hospital system in question. our household income will almost double, which makes the "get in/stay out" question even easier to answer. she has an IMA position, and i'm working on getting one myself if a few things fall into place. 6 reserve years then i can go "gray zone" and count on a little extra cash when i hit 60. not too shabby.

in regards to the relocation issue-- our negotiation process was very transparent and frank. we'll see if i still feel as positive after we start working there, but it was refreshing. they ended up bumping the relocation allowance to 7,500 each, and for one of us they rolled it into our signing bonus. so now we have the option of using the military move for some, civilian procured for the rest, or (and this is probably what i will do) we can do a PPM and use one of the preferred vendors for the civilian hospital and get reimbursed by the military for the PPM and, well, maybe we'll just submit some stuff to the civilian hospital, too.

i've been a little scarce here lately-- been busy. will update everyone but my REFRAD is dropped and from recent developments the timing was good. it's gotten even crazier around here. between genesis and this new emphasis on readiness looks like i'm escaping in the nick of time, lol.

--your friendly neighborhood house hunting in the greener grass now caveman

 

[Gastrapathy]

Congrats @Homunculus

 

[TheEarDoc]

The few docs I've met in my civi job who are Air Guard love it and they usually do 1 to 3 month deployments. They do seem to be sent on deployments quite a bit though from what I've seen. I guess it's whether you want to embrace the suck for 9 months at a time every so many years or multiple small dips in the %^&$ storm every few years.

Congrats on getting a good gig though! Please stick around and visit! I've enjoyed a lot of your posts over the years!

 

[DOswag]

Holy thread resurrection batman! Sorry I know this is several years old but I'm now in this same boat where I'm separating this summer. I have pretty much the same question as Homunculus. My new job has a relocation assistance of up to $10K. If I do a PPM for my final move, can I get reimbursed by the government the cost of the move (looking like somewhere in the $6-8K), keep this money, then utilize my new job's reimbursement to pay for the move?

it's a reimbursement though-- which brings up the issue of my military move. since they are not keen on rolling it into my signing bonus, and being averse to leaving any money on the table, the only way i could think of to somehow pocket this is by doing a DITY move and double dipping reimbursement. anyone had any experience with this before? i can try leaning a little more on the convert the moving expenses into the bonus thing but at the moment I'm trying to squeeze the turnip a little on base pay and what the wRVU's compensation will be.

--your friendly neighborhood sand on one side of the fence, grass on the other caveman

Always loved Homunculus' friendly neighborhood caveman signature lol