View Full Version : Phoenix VA salaries
http://www.openthebooks.com/search/?PensionCode=840&F_fiscalyear=2013&F_Station=Phoenix&F_Name&perpage=100&pg=1
Damn...... I need to work for the VA.
Where do I send the paperwork?
The Reaper
06-07-2014, 13:16
Damn...... I need to work for the VA.
Where do I send the paperwork?
If you have an MD, a board certified specialty, and ten or twenty years of experience, and will still work for what the VA is paying, each VA hires their own physicians, IIRC.
Do you have any idea what good surgeons in your hometown make?
A good Chief of Orthopedics at a normal mid-sized hospital is probably in the $500K-$1M range.
The VA does not get the best docs, because their pay is significantly lower, hence the number of foreign born physicians working in the VA system.
TR
If you have an MD, a board certified specialty, and ten or twenty years of experience, and will still work for what the VA is paying, each VA hires their own physicians, IIRC.
Do you have any idea what good surgeons in your hometown make?
A good Chief of Orthopedics at a normal mid-sized hospital is probably in the $500K-$1M range.
The VA does not get the best docs, because their pay is significantly lower, hence the number of foreign born physicians working in the VA system.
TR
What is wrong with foreign born docs?
What is wrong with foreign born docs?
What's wrong with American born docs? ;)
In Los Angeles, I had a dermatologist and several nurses that I had no idea what they were asking me. In an ER, I would think might just be a bit of a problem.
I also had a female Dentist that was born and raised in Iran, and it was absolutely no problem. She could interpret my screams just fine. :D
Pat
Are these folks physicians or administrators?
The Reaper
06-07-2014, 22:30
What is wrong with foreign born docs?
Why not use American docs, in America, to treat American vets?
Of the three foreign born physicians I have had with the VA, two were Chinese who were having serious issues with English, and the other is a Filipino who is pretty fluent.
None of them were licensed or credentialed to practice medicine in the State of NC. The could not write scripts outside the VA system, nor treat any patients other than VA in the VA hospital.
The high salaries were, I suspect, the physicians. Likely senior specialty surgeons.
TR
Yup, Doc's....I just typed the first guys name in a search Phoenix area Doctor.
Snaquebite
06-08-2014, 10:45
I posted this link in another thread because I was told they were all administrative positions. A little searching shows that they are all physicians.
That aside, I want to know how many are licensed to practice OUTSIDE the VA (foreign born or not). I read some comments on another forum made by a physician that stated he knew many had been denied practice in other institutions only to be employed by the VA. He further stated he knew of two specifically that were let go because the hospitals they were at deemed them a liability. He was asked by the VA about these two individuals only to say that he DID NOT recommend them yet they were hired anyway.
Why not use American docs, in America, to treat American vets?
Of the three foreign born physicians I have had with the VA, two were Chinese who were having serious issues with English, and the other is a Filipino who is pretty fluent.
None of them were licensed or credentialed to practice medicine in the State of NC. The could not write scripts outside the VA system, nor treat any patients other than VA in the VA hospital.
The high salaries were, I suspect, the physicians. Likely senior specialty surgeons.
TR
I chose my doctors by their medical qualifications, not by their country of origin.
A very talented Mexican born/educated doctor performed my open heart surgery last summer. Comparing experiences/results with two neighbors who had American born doctors...I mine was far better.
While recovering in the heart hospital, I received better care from 3 Filipino nurses, than I did from any of my American born nurses. All were good, but the Filipinas were the best.
My primary care MD (NY born) doesn't go to hospitals. The Hospitalist he had look after me was born in India. He amazed me with his knowledge of my medical history, and his attention to my condition, and the care I was receiving.
The Reaper
06-08-2014, 17:17
I chose my doctors by their medical qualifications, not by their country of origin.
A very talented Mexican born/educated doctor performed my open heart surgery last summer. Comparing experiences/results with two neighbors who had American born doctors...I mine was far better.
While recovering in the heart hospital, I received better care from 3 Filipino nurses, than I did from any of my American born nurses. All were good, but the Filipinas were the best.
My primary care MD (NY born) doesn't go to hospitals. The Hospitalist he had look after me was born in India. He amazed me with his knowledge of my medical history, and his attention to my condition, and the care I was receiving.
Congratulations.
Was this in a VA hospital, by any chance?
TR
Congratulations.
Was this in a VA hospital, by any chance?
TR
No, civilian. I definitely don't believe that doctors who have trouble communicating in English shouldn't be practicing in hospitals.
I was treated (8 stitches in a finger) in an immediate care care clinic by a Chinese doctor whose was a bit hard for me to understand (I wear hearing aids), he did a great job (2 years later I can't see the scar) his medical credentials were top shelf, (Duke, John's Hopkins, interned at a major trauma center, board certified in emergency medicine) far more than I would have expected in a store front clinic.
Today many American born doctors have gone to off-shore medical schools, because they can't qualify for US Med Schools.
No, civilian. I definitely don't believe that doctors who have trouble communicating in English shouldn't be practicing in hospitals.
I was treated (8 stitches in a finger) in an immediate care care clinic by a Chinese doctor whose was a bit hard for me to understand (I wear hearing aids), he did a great job (2 years later I can't see the scar) his medical credentials were top shelf, (Duke, John's Hopkins, interned at a major trauma center, board certified in emergency medicine) far more than I would have expected in a store front clinic.
Today many American born doctors have gone to off-shore medical schools, because they can't qualify for US Med Schools.
Are medical services just more jobs that "Americans won't do"?
BTW, I sliced off the pad of my left index finger (from about the first quarter, nearest the cuticle, of the nail forward to the tip) about 20 years ago. The Urgent Care doc reattached it with Steri-Strips. It took about a year to get feeling back in it, but I also can not see the scar. Not much communication was really needed since the type of wound and course of action were obvious. ;)
Pat
Ah, no.
Foreign doctors are essential for meeting the demand for all types of physicians in the U.S., which has been experiencing a doctor shortage for quite some time.
American kids are too busy getting degrees in Ethnic Studies.
Snaquebite
06-09-2014, 08:02
American kids are too busy getting degrees in Ethnic Studies.
or Art History, Philosophy , Music Therapy (yes, that's a major), communications, dance, English Lit, Latin, Film and American studies.
PedOncoDoc
06-09-2014, 08:55
Ah, no.
Foreign doctors are essential for meeting the demand for all types of physicians in the U.S., which has been experiencing a doctor shortage for quite some time.
The shortage has been created through higher and higher medical education costs with lower and lower return on investment. It is not financially responsible to pursue a career as a physician in the US. Many foreign medical graduates have no educational debt and are happy to come to America to work as physicians.
American medical students will have $150-$200k in debt from medical school alone (and may have more from undergraduate and/or graduate degrees before medical school). Upon graduation, MDs spend 3+ years in residency, making $35-$40k per year while working 60-80 hour work weeks with 3 weeks vacation per year. Physician salaries continue to decline due to decreased reimbursement for services (which will only get worse with the "affordable" care act), and the physicians have to pay back their loans which continue to accrue interest.
The shortage has been created through higher and higher medical education costs with lower and lower return on investment. It is not financially responsible to pursue a career as a physician in the US. Many foreign medical graduates have no educational debt and are happy to come to America to work as physicians.
American medical students will have $150-$200k in debt from medical school alone (and may have more from undergraduate and/or graduate degrees before medical school).
My sister is looking at 200k of debt to become a physical therapist. All the way until very recently, all you had to have was a master's degree to be a physical therapist. Now they require a doctorate.
Why the change? Was there some lack that previous PTs had that will be fixed with the additional education? Some study that shows that PTs with a doctorate have better recover rates?
For what it is worth, the answer to my sister's inquiries was that the change was made to raise the prestige of the profession.
All true.
Another factor is outright salary difference. Average VA doc salary is $177,664, after the aforementioned starvation period.
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/US-Department-of-Veterans-Affairs-Salaries-E41429.htm
Docs working in the civilian sector earned an average of about $15,000 more annually.
http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/physician/salary
While doing maintenance, I saw a list of doctors who were not board certified but who were working at the hospital I work at. They take advantage of loops holes in state law that allow them to work for a while on a temporary licenses without taking their boards. They leave the hospital for a while until the regulatory time period "resets" and then they are back at our hospital working with passing their boards. It is almost all foreign born doctors pulling this trick. Since we are State run hospital we pay our housekeepers far above what housekeepers would make on the outside but we pay our doctors far less then what they would make on the outside. So the hospital plays along with this skirting of the law.
I ask my local union president how he can support the government taking over health care when he sees how the state does it. And his reply was "I would think that the feds would do it better." From the sounds of how the Feds run the VA I would say not so much.
The shortage has been created through higher and higher medical education costs with lower and lower return on investment. It is not financially responsible to pursue a career as a physician in the US. Many foreign medical graduates have no educational debt and are happy to come to America to work as physicians.
American medical students will have $150-$200k in debt from medical school alone (and may have more from undergraduate and/or graduate degrees before medical school). Upon graduation, MDs spend 3+ years in residency, making $35-$40k per year while working 60-80 hour work weeks with 3 weeks vacation per year. Physician salaries continue to decline due to decreased reimbursement for services (which will only get worse with the "affordable" care act), and the physicians have to pay back their loans which continue to accrue interest.
Someone recently asked me why I wasn't going "all the way" and become an MD instead of just going on and becoming a P.A. ?
This, plus the insurance aspect of being an MD as opposed to be a P.A., is what I told them.
PedOncoDoc
06-09-2014, 10:38
Someone recently asked me why I wasn't going "all the way" and become an MD instead of just going on and becoming a P.A. ?
This, plus the insurance aspect of being an MD as opposed to be a P.A., is what I told them.
Malpractice insurance and medical-legal liability certainly play a role in that. I see US health care going to more and more PAs (phyisician's assistants) and NPs (nurse practitioners) with few overseeing doctors.
The PAs and NPs at my institution make as much money as I do, work fewer hours, and are not typically those liable for medical error. It's a win-win-win for them.
NurseTim
06-09-2014, 13:36
Malpractice insurance and medical-legal liability certainly play a role in that. I see US health care going to more and more PAs (phyisician's assistants) and NPs (nurse practitioners) with few overseeing doctors.
The PAs and NPs at my institution make as much money as I do, work fewer hours, and are not typically those liable for medical error. It's a win-win-win for them.
Really? You make $85,000 a year? Geez, you're getting taken for a ride. We make anywhere from 1/2 - 1/5 of what the MD makes, depending on specialty. When I was working primary care, we did the same job as our MD, same. Granted, I'd turf my more complicated Pt. To him/her, but it always figured I was there to take the pressure off of the MD and see the less acute run of the mill stuff.
Ape Man, same in nursing only we have freaking 3-4 doctorate degrees. :confused:
What other freaking "profession" has that many? NONE, that's how many! :mad: makes us look like a bunch of histrionic neurotic ninnies. I love what I do, but I'm still trying to find my niche, I miss primary care but grinding out the numbers is brutal and not serving the Pt. Very well. Cardiology was fun, but I needed more time in. Hospice/palliative care, to beaurocrat driven rules.
PedOncoDoc
06-09-2014, 13:48
Really? You make $85,000 a year? Geez, you're getting taken for a ride. We make anywhere from 1/2 - 1/5 of what the MD makes, depending on specialty. When I was working primary care, we did the same job as our MD, same. Granted, I'd turf my more complicated Pt. To him/her, but it always figured I was there to take the pressure off of the MD and see the less acute run of the mill stuff.
Ape Man, same in nursing only we have freaking 3-4 doctorate degrees. :confused:
What other freaking "profession" has that many? NONE, that's how many! :mad: makes us look like a bunch of histrionic neurotic ninnies. I love what I do, but I'm still trying to find my niche, I miss primary care but grinding out the numbers is brutal and not serving the Pt. Very well. Cardiology was fun, but I needed more time in. Hospice/palliative care, to beaurocrat driven rules.
Our NPs/PAs make more than that, and physiciansin pediatric/pediatric subspecialty medicine at an academic center make less than docs in the public sector.