8
10 Things for Physicians to Know About
PAs, RNs & APNs
By Anuja Vaidya
33. 10.4 percent of physicians say 11 percent to 50 percent
of their compensation is tied to value.
34. 10.4 percent of physicians report more than half of their
compensation is tied to value provided.
35. 38.55 percent of physicians pay up to $7,000 annually
for malpractice insurance.
36. 20.9 percent of physicians pay between $7,000 and
$10,000 annually for malpractice insurance.
37. 20.6 percent of physicians pay between $10,000 and
$15,000 annually for malpractice insurance.
38. 10.1 percent of physicians pay between $15,000 and
$20,000 annually for malpractice insurance.
39. 9.9 percent of physicians pay more than $20,000 annu-
ally for malpractice insurance.
40. 4.6 percent of physician practice owners plan to retire
in the next year.
41. 71.2 percent of physician practice owners plan to con-
tinue running their practice in the next year.
Financial preparedness for young
physicians
e 2015 AMA Employed Physicians Financial Prepared-
ness Report on Young Physicians shows:
42. 79 percent of physicians under 40 are employed; 28 per-
cent are hospital employees; 24 percent are employed by a
large group practice; 18 percent work in a small practice
environment.
43. In personal finances, 66 percent of young physicians are
the primary personal financial decision makers, while 46
percent use a financial advisor.
44. 80 percent are still paying off medical school debt; 71
percent have an emergency fund; and 29 percent have less
than $25k in funds.
45. 40 percent of young physicians work 40 to 50 hours a
week; 25 percent work 51 to 60 hours a week; and 22 per-
cent work 61 to 80 hour weeks.
46. In the future, 19 percent plan to start or buy into a pri-
vate practice; 49 percent plan to buy or remodel a primary
home; and 6 percent plan to buy a second home or vaca-
tion home. Ten percent of young physicians plan on getting
married and 45 percent plan to have children. Sixty-seven
percent wish to continue practicing as they do now.
47. 7 percent of young physicians consider themselves ahead
of schedule in saving for retirement; 50 percent say they are
on track; and 43 percent are behind where they'd like to be.
48. 36 percent of young physicians have less than $100k saved,
and 45 percent have $100k to $500k saved.
49. 38 percent of young physicians consider themselves
"knowledgeable" or "very knowledgeable" about personal
finances, while 83 percent are "somewhat confident" or
"very confident".
50. 46 percent believe the time spent on personal finances
is not adequate.
51. 71 percent believe physicians have unique financial
needs. n
H
ere are 10 things to know
about physician assistants,
registered nurses and
advanced nurse practitioners.
1. Nurse practitioners and physician
assistants earn more than non-clinical
staff. The average annual pay for a nurse
practitioner is $87,000. Registered nurs-
es earn significantly less at $52,000.
1
2. A Medscape nurse salary report,
which polled 8,256 nurses including
licensed practical/vocational nurses,
registered nurses and advanced
practice nurses noted over 50 percent
of nurses reported a salary increase in
2014 compared with 2013.
2
Here are five key findings on changes
in nurse salary from 2013 to 2014:
• Increased by more than 10
percent — 7 percent
• Increased by 10 percent or
less — 45 percent
• Remained the same — 39
percent
• Decreased by 10 percent
or less — 6 percent
• Decreased by more than
10 percent — 3 percent
3. RNs typically earn the most in
the West (California and Hawaii —
$105,000) and the least in the North
Central region (Iowa, Missouri, Ne-
braska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and
South Dakota — $69,000).
2
4. Nearly two-thirds — 62 percent — of
registered nurses over age 54 are
considering retirement within the next
three years, according to AMN Health-
care's annual survey of registered
nurses. The survey also found that 85
percent of nurses are happy with their
career choice, but they are increas-
ingly dissatisfied with their jobs and the
future of the care environment.
5. A number of states (21 and Washing-
ton, D.C.) allow nurse practitioners to
practice without physician oversight.
Ohio recently became the 22nd state
to consider a modernization bill that
would allow nurse practitioners and
other advanced practice nurses to
practice without physician oversight.
6. The demand for physician assistants
is growing, according to a 2015 Mer-
ritt Hawkins report.
3
Specific findings
from the report include:
• Searches for PAs were up 177
percent from 2011/12 to 2013/14
• PAs in the hospital setting: 39
percent
• PAs in a primary care setting:
Around 33 percent
• PAs in a specialist setting: About
66 percent
• PAs are the 9th most requested
Merritt Hawkins search
7. PA salary is on the rise. In 2014, the
median base salary for a PA increased
to $93,800 a year, representing a
$3,800 rise from 2012. In 2015, 54
percent of PAs received monetary
bonuses. Over 75 percent of PAs
received some type of additional
compensation. PAs who had less than
one year of experience reported an
average base salary of $85,000. This
figure increased to $89,000 for PAs
with two-to-four years of experience
and $96,000 for PAs with five-to-nine
years of experience.
8. New York, California, Texas, Penn-
sylvania and Florida lead the nation as
the top 5 states based on the number
of PAs.4 Alaska, South Dakota, Maine,
Pennsylvania and New York lead the na-
tion as the top 5 states based on the con-
centration of PAs per 100,000 people.
9. Family medicine has the greatest
number of PAs at 19.7 percent, fol-
lowed by surgical subspecialties (19.5
percent) and emergency medicine
(13.8 percent). However, PAs in der-
matology make the highest average
salary of $112,538.4
10. PAs have the best job in America
right now based on the number of
job openings, earning potential and
career opportunities, according to
career site Glassdoor. There are more
than 45,000 job openings for PAs and
the role is associated with high career
opportunities, employees rating the
job 3.5 out of five for opportunities.
References:
1
Medscape's Clinical and Office Staff Salary
Report 2015
2
Medscape Nurse Salary Report 2015
3
2014 Review of Physician and Advanced
Practitioner Recruiting Incentives by Merritt
Hawkins
4
Data from the National Commission on Certi-
fication of Physician Assistants
n
