NEW FEATURE: Q&A
Are there benefits to a straight percentage salary?
Making the decision to take a straight percentage salary can be a scary step for a PA. Although intimidating, many experienced PAs have found that this type of agreement is actually the most beneficial to both the PA and supervising physician (SP). The most important factor when negotiating salary is to know how much you generate for the practice. Every PA should know exactly how much he/she generates for the practice on a monthly basis. There are many ways to keep track, and most business offices can do this fairly easily. Anytime an SP is not willing to share that number with their PA is a big red flag and that PA should seek employment elsewhere.

Once you know what you generate for the practice, you now need to subtract out overhead (office space, MA salary, health insurance, malpractice insurance, cosmetic costs, 401K, paid CME, etc). These benefits vary for every PA, and that is normal. If you add up your benefits and subtract from your total revenue collected, you will find that the benefits are about half of what you generate for the practice based on full time employment. Most PAs who prefer a percentage only salary fall in the 30-40% range. With a lot of benefits mentioned above, you should fall in the 30% range and with only a few benefits, you should fall in the 40% range. There are a few exceptions to this rule, and some PAs have bought into their practice as a partner and are paid at 50%. Most PAs paid by only percentage do not have any paid vacation time. If you are not generating income for the practice, you are not generating income for yourself. It is easy for an SP to agree to these terms because you are only asking to be paid on what you generate and not at all when you are not working. You can easily see how these types of arrangements are good for the PA, the SP and the practice.

Kasey Drapeau D'Amato PA-C, MPAP is a board certified Physician Assistant who has been practicing Dermatology since 2003. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and her Masters degree from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. Kasey trained and works extensively with Dr. Lauren Reager at Santa Monica Dermatology Medical Group in Santa Monica, California. A Diplomate of the National Society of Dermatology PAs, she is committee chair for the SDPA distance CME program.

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