Salary Survey
Snapshot: Family planning maintains salary, staff levels
Despite continued changes in the health care scene, family planners are managing to hold their ground when it comes to salary and job security. Almost half of the respondents to the Contraceptive Technology Update 2000 salary survey reported a salary increase and no change in current staffing levels at their facilities.
The results reflect a continued trend of modest increases and steady staffing. However, not all professions enjoyed pay raises this year, according to the 2000 results. The survey was mailed in July 2000 to 1,468 readers and had a response of 135, for a response rate of 9%.
Nurse practitioners and administrators saw pay increases this year. Median salaries for nurse practitioners (NPs) rose again for the second year in a row, climbing to $47,857. The 1999 median pay level for nurse practitioners was $42,500, up from 1998’s $41,111 figure.
Administrators made up for 1999’s slight dip in pay, jumping from $41,500 to $48,000. Survey respondents in this category reported a median figure of $45,000 figure in 1998.
While physicians are seeing an increase in compensation, they are having to work harder for it, according to figures from an annual physicians’ survey from the Denver-based Medical Group Management Association, the nation’s leading organization representing medical group practice.1 The median compensation for all primary care physicians climbed 3.4% from 1998 to 1999, but their total charges increased 11.5%. Median pay for all specialists jumped 6% while their charges rose 8.5%.
Geographic location and chosen practice setting can have a big impact on what you earn. The latest numbers from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the median annual salary for registered nurses was $40,690 in 1998.2 The middle 50% earned between $34,430 and $49,070 a year; the lowest 10% earned less than $29,480, and the highest 10% earned more than $69,300 a year. Almost three-fourths of the RNs participating in the CTU survey were employed at a public health department; those employed in public health departments earned a median salary of $32,499.
When it comes to salary and job security, it all depends on whom you talk to and the geographic location, says Susan Wysocki, RNC, NP, president and chief executive officer of the Washington, DC-based National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health. Nurse practitioners might be experiencing a job squeeze in such metropolitan areas as Washington, DC, says Wysocki. In contrast, there is a need for NPs in rural underserved areas, she reports.
"What kind of health care system has moved in, what the insurance companies are doing, and all kinds of funding mechanisms really impact what people are saying not only about salaries, but their employment opportunities or lack of employment opportunities," she notes.
Raises for those in advanced practice
Advanced practice providers, who include NPs, physician assistants (PAs) and certified nurse midwives (CNMs), are continuing to record gains. According to a 1999 survey by the American Academy of Physician Assistants in Alexandria, VA, median salary for such providers stands at $64,780, a jump from 1998’s $62,175 figure. CNM salaries average from $40,000 to $70,000 per year, according to information from the American College of Nurse Midwives in Washington, DC.
Allied Consulting, a Dallas-based recruitment firm, projected 2000 recruitment of NPs and PAs to shoot up due to the federal Balanced Budget Act but did not see such a level of growth in the early part of the year, says Curtis Pryor, company vice president. However, activity has increased in the latter part of the year, and more is predicted as employers become aware of the providers’ value, he states. "The market is not even being scratched right now. There is so much market out there for these people, I believe that, sooner or later, it’s going to explode on us."
The value of advanced practice providers is being recognized by pharmaceutical companies. During the first quarter of 2000, 10% of all pharmaceutical sales calls went to NPs and PAs, according to Scott-Levin, a Newtown, PA-marketing research firm.3 According to the survey, PAs report seeing an average of 103 patients each week, compared with 93 seen by office-based doctors, 79 by NPs, and 69 by hospital-based physicians.
Advanced practice providers have been "invisible" when it comes to prescriptions because scripts may be recorded under the physician’s name or Drug Enforcement Agency number, says Wysocki. With new tracking mechanisms in place, pharmaceutical firms are directing more resources and educational materials to advanced practice providers, Wysocki notes.
Create your dream job’
Are you ready for a new job challenge but don’t want to change your geographic location? Take a tip from Linda Lindeke, PhD, RN, CNP, assistant professor at Minneapolis-based University of Minnesota’s School of Nursing.
"I think that jobs that are very needed are often not advertised, and often the need is not even recognized," Lindeke notes. "I spend a lot of my time helping advanced practice nurses create opportunities for employment."
Lindeke is the author of the Internet learning module, Creating Your Dream Job in Your Chosen Community. The module was developed with funds from Minnesota’s Collaborative Rural Nurse Practitioner Project, which seeks to improve access for the education of rural nurse practitioner and nurse-midwifery students, establish rural clinical education practice sites, and develop opportunities for NPs and CNMs to establish practices in rural communities. (Visit the Project’s Web site at www.nursing.umn.edu/professional.)
Lindeke offers the following ideas to create positions right in your own community:
• Provide health care education in the community to address unmet needs (prenatal, newborn, and parenting classes, breast-feeding counseling, adolescent health, etc.).
• Select strategic ways to enhance others’ successful practices with your efforts. Find a busy health care provider and see where there is overbooking or additional room for services.
• Consider using technology in delivering your services: consulting via the Internet, using the telemedicine system for continuing education, consulting, etc.
• Explore the possibility of school-based clinics, clinics linked to public health agencies, caring for homeless populations, and parish nursing, in which nurses, as members of a church staff, promote wellness within the congregation, enhance the church’s outreach ministry, and strengthen the awareness of the connection between faith and health.
• Apply your knowledge and skills in a particular specialty. For example, contract with a school district to provide health services in schools. Expand your practice once you get a "foot in the door."
Network at conferences and perhaps even on Internet listservs, says Lindeke. Be curious and look at opportunities, she suggests.
"Be flexible; expect surprises and difficult times," she advises. "Many entrepreneurs and innovators find that it takes longer to implement their ideas than they expected; others find they move ahead more quickly than they might feel ready to proceed."
References
1. Lovern E. Physician practices trim their losses. Mod Healthcare 2000; Oct. 9. Web: www.modernhealthcare.com/currentissue.
2. U.S. Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook. 2000-01 ed.
3. Scott-Levin. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants: All about promotion, patients, and prescribing. Press release. Newtown, PA; June 16, 2000.
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