Hospitalist offer...should I take it?

[kingston99]

Hey,

I just got an offer for a hospitalist position. Details are below. I wonder if it is a reasonable offer or if I need to negotiate a better deal.

Hours 7-5 except one day a week is 7-7
$140/hr -> 262000 per year (base)
Average 14-15 patients; if there are >15 patients, then there is extra pay
$1.5/wRVU
$7/hr quality bonus
no admissions except on the 7-7 day for the last 2-3 hours
open ICU with intensivist on site
separate code and rapid response teams
no match on 401K
no CME
benefits are ok, average

Since it is rounding only, I would be able to leave once I have completed rounding and family meetings, then take calls at home. There is full sub-specialty support.
Option to cover remote night calls for $500 per night
The location is in a major city in California, so the cost of living is a bit high

Another thing to consider is if I decide to rotate and cover different hospitals, then the hourly rate goes to $150/hour.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

I don’t have any useful advice (I would personally never want to live in a HCOL California type place) but I just want to say that a $1.5 RVU “bonus” strikes me as comical. I feel like the system would spend more money keeping track of it and adjusting payroll than the entire bonus itself!

 

[kingston99]

The bonus did seem very low; I have seen others post with bonuses of at least $10-15/wRVU
I have to go to Cali for my spouse's job, he works in tech; if we had a choice, I would stay away from a HCOL and high tax state.

 

[collegestud2013]

The bonus did seem very low; I have seen others post with bonuses of at least $10-15/wRVU
I have to go to Cali for my spouse's job, he works in tech; if we had a choice, I would stay away from a HCOL and high tax state.

Depends on if you get paid that rate for all of your RVUs or if it only kicks in above a certain threshold. Usually the lower RVU rates like the job you're posting would apply to all of your wRVUs (eg if you get 6000 RVUs per year than that's an extra $9000), while for ones that are higher per RVU but only applying to RVUs above a certain threshold (eg $25-30 per wRVU but only for those above 5000 RVUs per year).

 

[collegestud2013]

Hey,

I just got an offer for a hospitalist position. Details are below. I wonder if it is a reasonable offer or if I need to negotiate a better deal.

Hours 7-5 except one day a week is 7-7
$140/hr -> 262000 per year (base)
Average 14-15 patients; if there are >15 patients, then there is extra pay
$1.5/wRVU
$7/hr quality bonus
no admissions except on the 7-7 day for the last 2-3 hours
open ICU with intensivist on site
separate code and rapid response teams
no match on 401K
no CME
benefits are ok, average

Since it is rounding only, I would be able to leave once I have completed rounding and family meetings, then take calls at home. There is full sub-specialty support.
Option to cover remote night calls for $500 per night
The location is in a major city in California, so the cost of living is a bit high

Another thing to consider is if I decide to rotate and cover different hospitals, then the hourly rate goes to $150/hour.

Pay is decent for the workload you're describing. 14-15 patients is pretty good for a 10-hour shift if there is full subspecialty support on site. However if it's open ICU would expect higher pay since you have to deal with ICU level patients. Overall the pay would be okay if it were in a average or lower COL city, but having to live in a high-cost city in California would make that pay go a lot less far. Don't count on getting a the full amount of the quality bonus since many places write then so that's is nearly impossible to get the full amount. Also, they need to specify what extra pay amount is when there is >15 patients. Also, not having any CME, 401K match, and moving/sign on bonus definitely makes it less attractive.

Would try to negotiate at least a sign-on bonus if there isn't one already (or a higher one) at least before taking it. However, I suspect as a new grad trying to get in a job in a major city in California (which likely already has a oversaturation of physicians), your negotiating power will be very low.

Also would try to see if there are any good moonlighting opportunities on your days off? Based on these numbers you're probably making maybe $275-285k per year before any extra shifts which seems to be low for a high COL city.