Negotiating call schedule in contract

[AmiSansNom]

I am about to sign my first job after fellowship and had a question about call frequency in the contract. I liked a job and I am in talks with the employer and am negotiating terms. They have 3 other physicians in the practice and I will be joining as the fourth. The employer says the contract would say that the call would be divided equally amongst the physicians, but they do not specify the call frequency as 1:4. They tell me that they have hired locums in the past when a physician has left the practice so that the call frequency of the existing physicians does not increase. Is this common to not mention a specific call frequency? Or do I need to push for the mention of a specific call frequency such as 'no frequent than 1:4 call' in the contract and if they don't do that, would that be a deal breaker? From what they said, call is quite light with just one or two calls per night and you hardly ever have to go in. Everything else about the job seems good. Thank you.

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[gutonc]

As someone who writes these offers, I will say that the wording is pretty standard and is there for a reason. I know how many physicians I have NOW and how many I hope to have when I fill my vacancy(ies), that will be how the call is split. If somebody retires, or moves, that will necessarily change the call frequency and there's honestly nothing I can do about that in the short term.

I will say that this is much easier in a group of ~15 physicians like mine, than in a group of 3-4. When I lose a doc, the change in call frequency is almost imperceptible. When you go from 1:4 to 1:3, it hurts a lot more.

 

[AmiSansNom]

As someone who writes these offers, I will say that the wording is pretty standard and is there for a reason. I know how many physicians I have NOW and how many I hope to have when I fill my vacancy(ies), that will be how the call is split. If somebody retires, or moves, that will necessarily change the call frequency and there's honestly nothing I can do about that in the short term.

I will say that this is much easier in a group of ~15 physicians like mine, than in a group of 3-4. When I lose a doc, the change in call frequency is almost imperceptible. When you go from 1:4 to 1:3, it hurts a lot more.

Thank you for your input, I appreciate it. So you are saying although it might be to my disadvantage with one physician leaving since it's a smaller group, there is nothing much I can do about it, correct? From what I understand based on what you said, these hospitals have standard phrasing for call schedule and it is difficult for me to have them modify it. Right?

 

[gutonc]

Thank you for your input, I appreciate it. So you are saying although it might be to my disadvantage with one physician leaving since it's a smaller group, there is nothing much I can do about it, correct? From what I understand based on what you said, these hospitals have standard phrasing for call schedule and it is difficult for me to have them modify it. Right?

I mean, the group will define call however it chooses to do so. Most groups try to do it fairly so it will be 1:X where X is the number of docs to share the call burden. Obviously there is an optimal X for each group but it will vary over time so “call is shared equally” is the way to define it such that it can flex as the group size does.

Here’s a thought experiment for you to put this in perspective. Say you demand your contract say that you will take call 1:4. Now 2 years down the road, business is good so they hire 2 more docs. Now you’re contractually obligated to take call 1:4, while the other 5 docs get to split the other 3 weeks each month among themselves.

There are a number of hills worth dying on in contract negotiations but this isn’t one of them.

 

[AmiSansNom]

I mean, the group will define call however it chooses to do so. Most groups try to do it fairly so it will be 1:X where X is the number of docs to share the call burden. Obviously there is an optimal X for each group but it will vary over time so “call is shared equally” is the way to define it such that it can flex as the group size does.

Here’s a thought experiment for you to put this in perspective. Say you demand your contract say that you will take call 1:4. Now 2 years down the road, business is good so they hire 2 more docs. Now you’re contractually obligated to take call 1:4, while the other 5 docs get to split the other 3 weeks each month among themselves.

There are a number of hills worth dying on in contract negotiations but this isn’t one of them.

Makes sense. Thank you for your considered opinion.