Melnic Consulting Group 2018 PA Salary Guide Overview

The 2018 Advanced Practice Salary Guide from Melnic Consulting Group showed a slight increase in salaries for PAs. New graduates averaged $101,735, up from $100,000 the previous year. PAs with over 10 years of experience saw a higher increase in salaries to $155,471, up from $145,000 the previous year.

Melnic is a consulting group that provides nationwide searches for placements of PAs and APRNs (Advanced Practice Registered Nurses). Melnic has been releasing an annual salary guide to be used by PAs, APRNs and hospital staffing leaders. The data for the report is conducted through January 1 – December 31, 2017 and includes over 970 APRNs and PAs from across the country.

As with other reports, this report shows that there is plenty of demand for PAs and NPs, as unemployment rates for these professions are well below average. However, salaries have plateaued which is also consistent with the 2018 NCCPA and AAPA salary reports. With the plateau of salaries it is more important for prospective employees to look at the benefits being offered as they can be worth an additional 22-30% of the base salary.

[jetpack_subscription_form title=”Stay informed on PA salaries” subscribe_text=”Enter your email address to receive future posts by email for FREE” subscribe_button=”Sign Me Up”]

Another important highlight of the report is the importance of negotiation. The AAPA report has shown a pay disparity between genders, however this does not account for differences in negotiation. If this is something you struggle with, than having someone else negotiate for you can be helpful.

This report does a great job of comparing PA to ARNP salaries; however it does come with some short comings. It shows the break down for ARNPs in different specialties, but clumps PAs all into one category. PA salaries can range depending on specialty which is not reflected in this report. Also, this report does not show bonus compensation which can drastically change overall compensation.

Another huge short coming to this report is the response rate, with only 970 responses. It does not show how many are PAs, but either way it is a very small amount of certified PAs who have responded. Without a great response rate it makes the information less valid and useful. That it is why it is important for PAs to respond to these salary surveys.

To get a full copy of the 2018 report you can complete the current salary survey and help provide better information for the PA career. It is their goal to get 5K responses, so please help them by sharing the salary survey.

What do you think of this salary survey? Would you use it as a reference in salary negotiation? Please comment below the original post, sign up to receive future posts by email and share with your friends!