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in-pacents PA Salary

I Got a “Raise” for 2018! – PA Salary

Physician Assistant Salary 2018 Annual Raise

At the end of every calendar year we have a review and a part of this process is compensation review. The review is completed by the clinic manager and our supervising physician. Based on the results we can get a raise:

Meets expectations = 2%
Above expectations = 3%
Exceptional = 4%

I apparently was above expectations as I was given a 3% raise. The raise is to the base salary and in past years I have not really paid much attention to it as I am paid a base salary and a bonus based on workRVU’s. How much I earn throughout the year is more about how productive I am and not my base salary. As long as I’m more productive than my base salary, it makes the base salary less important.

So really I didn’t get much of a raise and my salary is just keeping up with inflation. The good news is that in years passed with an increase in base salary there is also an adjustment in the numbers for how the bonus is calculated; either a change in the amount of workRVUs we need to hit the bonus level or a change in the dollars per workRVU that we are compensated. Usually both numbers have been adjusted slightly annually.

After getting notice of my “raise” I was curious as to where my base salary was compared to other PAs in my state and with my years of experience, and it was slightly lower when looking at the 2017 AAPA salary report. Overall, PA salaries have increased by about 5% and my salary is lower than other reported salaries, so I thought I’d like to see if there was anything I could do to have this reviewed.

I emailed the appropriate manager about this and she said that the CFO is planning on reviewing salaries to see where we are compared to the rest of the industry. It was a pretty simple email and I hope that it gets the ball rolling for further discussion. I’ve learned that it is important to continue to follow up on things like this if you want something changed. My plan is to follow up with them in a few weeks to see if there have been any further discussions.

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I do like the position that I’m currently in and am not really interested in changing jobs at this time. I just want to get paid a fair wage. I believe I have some valid points, as across the board we’ve been seeing 5% increases but my employer has been giving less than this, which is not keeping up with the rest of the industry. When I first started here my salary was actually above industry standards and now it is below. Also, as far as my collections and workRVU I am more than covering my costs; and adjusting my base salary only means I’m getting the money on a monthly basis instead of quarterly.

Like I have previously said I’m not too worried about it, as long as I’m productive I’ll still get paid through my bonus. The important thing is that we should be keeping up with the rest of the industry and when we drop below we should do what we can to bring this up with management as they are not always looking at ways to give out more money.

I think I’ll probably get another adjustment when they review overall salaries and what has been going on industry wide, but in the mean time I’ll continue to check up on it until I get an answer.

Did you get a raise this year? Don’t forget to sign up to receive future posts by email so you don’t miss out on what happens and to see any adjustments in bonus pay for 2018. Please comment below the original post and share with your friends!