VA jobs - insiders only?

[Hybrocure]

When you see those VA pay tables I’m surprised orthos would even want to work there so having not much competition from ortho makes sense

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[JustAPedicurist]

Us being in tier 2 is legit. Makes my heart happy. VA is the only place where we’re treated like actual physicians

 

[Utvolsdpm]

When you see those VA pay tables I’m surprised orthos would even want to work there so having not much competition from ortho makes sense

They made about 390k at the facility I was at. Rarely were in clinic and did some surgery. NPs and PAs mostly ran the clinic. Didn’t seem too bad.

 

[Feli]

They made about 390k at the facility I was at. Rarely were in clinic and did some surgery. NPs and PAs mostly ran the clinic. Didn’t seem too bad.

Ortho average is $573k...

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It is flat-out amazing the govt VA/IHS can get any specialty surgeons or procedures specialists when their max allowed (even for chief, admin, etc MDs) at $400k is well below the national averages. Some VAs can keep gen surgeons or OB or something, but there is usually even reason for that (failed boards, license discipline, wants to try to work part time yet get full time pay and that doesn't work in PP or regular hospital, stuck in the area for personal reasons, etc).

They could pay the FP and ER docs and maybe even gen surg enough to be a bit competitive with overall averages, but they usually won't or can't do that (keep the senior VA docs happy). It is sad to see that they basically get some young docs trying to PSLF and other older ones who couldn't find any better job.

Most IHS/VA can't attract or can't keep most of the specialty surgeons (cardio, ortho, derm, plastics, etc). Hopefully they'll get around to raising those pay scales. Even private hospitals paying much more have some trouble attracting and retaining ortho and CR and trauma and etc surgeons, though. Right now, VAs are absolutely not competitive for speciality surgeon MDs. IHS can have same pay with low cost of living, but they are generally even less desired due to ultra-rural (private hospitals would pay even more to attract, govt ones can't). Even if the govt jobs went to absolute max of the allowed, it's not even the average for most MDs, surgeons and even rads or onco or GI or many others.

...It's funny, because podiatry clearly is starting to like or even love the VA pay in the last 10yrs or so. I guess that is awesome for us in terms of jobs... but also shows how bad our overall compensation/market/saturation is when we'll compete fairly hard for jobs and wage 99% of MDs would not even open the email for.

 

[heybrother]

I think these days the VA makes a lot of sense for 3-year residency specialties…FM, IM, Podiatry and even for Rheum and ID (4 year training). The VA pay for these specialties line up a lot more with potential community pay vs all other specialities where they could earn substantially more.

Let’s say you’re a new grad Pod at an EDRP VA. Base salary $215K + $40K EDRP + $15K p4p bonus + $10K 401K TSP match = $280K total comp first year out. Also consider your annual leave is worth actual money. The VA will pay you $20K+ per year for up to 3.5 years that you don't use your 26 days of annual leave (you wont receive it until after you separate however…same with 401K). For some people the 5 weeks of free sick and holiday leave is enough for the first 3.5 years and they’d rather get paid cash for the 26 days of unused annual leave compensated at your full daily salary rate. With that being said your total comp as a new grad rank and file staff pod could even exceed $300K during your first year at the VA. As mentioned above it depends on many factors…did you get an EDRP position? Did they start you at a Table 2 salary? Did you use the 26 days of annual leave on top of the 5 weeks of other leave that they already gave you? With Table 2 we will now see base salaries exceed $300K not including these benefits for highly tenured, supervisory, VA Pods.

There's other ridiculous stuff too. I'm looking at the VA health insurance benefits and it looks like a family plan for BCBS standard federal health insurance is $700 a month in premiums. Everyone everywhere is going to accept that health insurance. Meanwhile, a non-HSA eligible family plan on the exchange in my area is $1600+ a month and it comes with a gigantic deductible/max OOP compared to the federal plans.

Also, as the VA wages rise the value of the future pension also rises.

 

[Scrantonicity]

There's other ridiculous stuff too. I'm looking at the VA health insurance benefits and it looks like a family plan for BCBS standard federal health insurance is $700 a month in premiums. Everyone everywhere is going to accept that health insurance. Meanwhile, a non-HSA eligible family plan on the exchange in my area is $1600+ a month and it comes with a gigantic deductible/max OOP compared to the federal plans.

Also, as the VA wages rise the value of the future pension also rises.

And there is really no reason to do the standard plan. The basic plan is good enough as long as you stay in network (which is very broad)...lower premiums and no deductible...

 

[icebreaker32]

And there is really no reason to do the standard plan. The basic plan is good enough as long as you stay in network (which is very broad)...lower premiums and no deductible...

The basic plan is still a true Cadillac plan with minimal out of pocket expenses. If you absolutely never go to a doctor there are a couple slightly less expensive plans that might partially fund an HSA. 90 percent of employees I know take the BCBS basic....you hardly pay anything for a typical doctor's visit or most medical care unlike most high deductible plans that more and more people have these days.