Update on VA legislation

[Utvolsdpm]

So the implementation of the pay increase is going to take a while. No word on back pay.

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[hypermobility]

So the implementation of the pay increase is going to take a while. No word on back pay.

a LONG while apparently!

 

[Utvolsdpm]

So possibly 2-3 months is what we’re looking at?

 

[hypermobility]

So possibly 2-3 months is what we’re looking at?

I'm betting closer to Jan 1. No back pay.

 

[Utvolsdpm]

I'm betting closer to Jan 1. No back pay.

Sounds like November is the target

 

[hypermobility]

Pay table 1 effective Nov 25

Federal Register :: Public Inspection: Annual Pay Ranges for Physicians, Dentists, and Podiatrists of Veterans Health Administration

 

[Utvolsdpm]

Pay table 1 effective Nov 25

Federal Register :: Public Inspection: Annual Pay Ranges for Physicians, Dentists, and Podiatrists of Veterans Health Administration

Kind of odd being the only surgical specialty in that table. I don’t see this attracting many people from private practice who weren’t already interested.

 

[dtrack22]

What does it take to get to the "maximum" salary at any one of the three tiers?

 

[DexterMorganSK]

Kind of odd being the only surgical specialty in that table. I don’t see this attracting many people from private practice who weren’t already interested.

thats fine..a bit more openings for a new grad (hopefully) with a passion to help the veterans.

 

[hypermobility]

What does it take to get to the "maximum" salary at any one of the three tiers?

For other physician specialties, this is a mix of time served in profession, comparable market data private sector in that location, and RVU generation per provider.

Tier 1 - non supervisory
Tier 2 - chief podiatrist (or other supervisory role)
Tier 3 - Chief of Surgery, Staff, etc.

 

[hypermobility]

What are you talking about averages were like 110K before. Now minimum will be about 110k and maximum was about 170k, now it will be about 262K.

If VA wants to keep and recruit qualified podiatric physicians, they will have to pay them as high as they can.

This was a proposed solution to an ongoing problem.

I would venture very few podiatrists will obtain 262K. Tier 3 will include very few podiatrists, especially at the outset. There will be many in Tier 1, and probably 20-30% in Tier 2.

My thoughts are this: I think most podiatrists will see a significant pay raise with this. I believe when market pay and performance pay are included, many are going to approach the upper end of their tier early on.

 

[heybrother]

The tricky thing for me is being an outsider looking in at these numbers trying to understand them.

You can look up payscale for any federal employee - 2017 numbers are available and you can filter by podiatrist. If you filter out the "00" -'s which I suspect are residents (could be wrong, but I saw a guy I know on the list) you essentially filter out all the people who make $40-50K.

The next lowest people are GS12s - I don't think there are many of them and they make ...$110K. What's strange to me is that when I look at some of the payscales for areas these numbers are actually significantly higher than what the payscales say so there must be some payment adjustments upward being made to people beyond the base tables.

Everyone seems to tap out at $150-160.

Title 38 Pay Schedules - Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM)

If you go to this link you can see current pay scales. Locality pay seems to be a part of the process - do the tiers/scales listed above include locality pay or is that added after the fact? (...I assume yes)

The current system seems to include things like - Associate, Full, Intermediate, Senior, Chief. I suppose all of that is going away in the new process because the physician/dentist pdfs don't have any of that in them.

 

[Monoloki]

Source?

You are correct! The assumption is no pay is increase unless you facility deems you valuable and does not want to lose you. The philosophy now is that it is for retention and recruitment, and we should not assume any significant increase. We have not hit the lottery! Very sad!

 

[hypermobility]

Well how did everyone fare on the initial determination? My direct salary went up ~30%, not including performance pay.

Our biggest initial barrier was lack of specific funding to our institution. Heard from numerous admin their determination was less than they wanted to give, relating to financial constraints.

 

[dpmgrad]

At my facility, we are looking at 30 - 35% increase (excluding performance pay). HR is still processing paperwork and has indicated that they will honor the increase. We will see when all of the paperwork is completed.

 

[hypermobility]

We received notification that backpay and new salary will be this pay period.