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CAPC Palliative Care Discussion Forum
Billing and Finance
NP SalariesAuthor: drussell
Date: Jun 20, 2011 3:49 pm
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I have been asked by my hosptial to benchmark salaries and work structure. I work in pediatrics so there is just no data out there to explain what I do everyday. I feel your frustation.
There will be a study in the months to come to look at peds, it may have some applicability for our adult collegues.
Look forward to others responses.
"The base salary for a full-time NP (those who practiced clinically 35 hours or more per week) was $89,450. The average total income, or salary plus any additional pay for on-call time and/or incentive bonuses, etc., for a"The average full-time NP was $97,340. The average hourly wage of all NPs, regardless the number of hours worked per week, was $45.06. This hourly rate when converted to its full-time equivalent salary (2080 hours annually) was $93,720, which may be a better indicator of NP earning power."
This information is not specific to Palliative Care and is collected from NP's across the country. There are many factors that influence the salary of a nurse practitioner including the following:
Region of employment/Cost of Living
Experience
Certification
Setting of employment (private hospital, clinic, academic institution, etc)
Job requirements (special skills, on-call, weekend/holiday work, etc)
Because each organization approaches salary from a different perspective it is important to survey your organization and region as to how NP's are compensated. For example, one institution may not consider previous experience in primary care applicable to a new role in Palliative care and therefore start the NP at an entry level NP salary.
Talking to other NP's which do not have to be specifically in Palliative care within your region may be helpful to give you a range to work from. Also remember to ask about other compensation such as benefits, call pay, and holiday pay if applicable. A good place to start asking questions may be a local NP organization whose goal is to support one another professionally.
In response as to what data you should be looking at (RVU's, patients seen, etc), it is very difficult to align RVU's with Palliative care contacts due to the extensive time requirements needed for quality Palliative assessments. Another option is to monitor the number of patients seen in addition to the time required with each encounter. A daily log detailing the number of patients and time spent with each patient may be helpful. It is also important to collect data on what you are NOT able to do. For example, if you have a heavy patient load and are unable to see every follow-up patient every day, then that should be recorded in order to use this data in the future as to what you COULD do if more FTE's were allowed.
Posted on behalf of
Stephen Howell, CRNP, Palliative and Comfort Care Unit at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, University Hospital
Posted by Sandra Joyce Crump RN, BSN, MBA
Palliative Care Leadership CentersTM
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, AL