new grad np contract negotiation help

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New grad NP here. I was just sent a contract for my first NP job at a SNF and wanted to get some input. The position is for 40 hours per week, M-F, salary of 95K (but said it's negotiable), with 3 weeks vacation (also negotiable), a $400 stipend for health insurance, and $1000 for CME. I'm planning on negotiating for DEA fees paid and more for CME. First, do you think this is a fair offer?

Second, I was told that I will essentially be "on call" each night after I leave work. Is this normal for a SNF position? They told me it's not very often I will be called, and it would usually be to give orders until I can come see the patient the next day. I requested to speak with one of the other NP's to get a better sense of the call situation. Does anyone have experience with this? Should I be requesting call pay for these hours or a higher salary?

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Specializes in Registered Nurse.

Salary varies so much depending on what area of the country you are living in. It's really difficult to say without knowing the cost of living. What is a health insurance stipend ? Does that mean you have to find your own insurance?

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I'm in Chicago, so the cost of living is pretty high. But it's also oversaturated with NPs. From what I can gather, the average is somewhere between 95-105k. My biggest concern is the call. If I'm on call each night, shouldn't I be paid more? Just curious if anyone else has had experience with this. I'm still waiting to talk to one of the other NPs about how frequently they are called. I think that will make a big difference.

The health insurance stipend is for me to find my own, but I'm single and healthy, so I don't think that will be a problem.

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Specializes in Behavioral Health.

You're on call every single week day? I'd want a lot more information on that. If you can never have a glass of wine or turn your phone off without finding coverage that's worth compensation.

If this is your first contract you should find out what other NPs in the area are making and how they handle call. It's almost certain that this employer not only offered you an amount that's a good price for them, but that they expect you to ask for more. Use the search box to look for negotiations or negotiating and see what other people have recommended new NPs ask for.

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Two things stand out in your offer. One, it is really expected that you will receive health insurance as an employee benefit. Health insurance is extremely expensive, in North Carolina the cheapest insurance available on the exchanges is over $500 per month. So you need to plan for a very large expenditure – – minimum $6000 per year – – for decent health insurance unless you are covered by your husband's plan or something like that.

The other thing that makes me very nervous is this requirement to be on call every night. I applied for a nursing home job where I was to be on call between 5 PM and 9 PM five nights a week. They told me the same thing, "oh you well hardly ever get any calls." The population that I would be covering for was approximately 120 patients. I'm sorry, there is no way that I won't get 4-5 calls and evening with their population, for high blood sugars tested QHS alone. I wound up not taking the job. Just the psychological stress of knowing I had to have my phone with me every evening all evening was just something I wasn't willing to do.

Good luck, if they say that it's negotiable then try to negotiate what is negotiable. But those two issues are the ones that I find unusual and that stand out.

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Specializes in Registered Nurse.

Def wouldn't take their word for it on the "on call" situation. If it's for issues that can be taken care of the next day, then why would they need to call you after hours? Doesn't add up to me. Will you be expected to go in for emergencies ? For me, being on call is super stressful. I'm always paranoid my phone won't get service or I won't hear ringer in the middle of the night. I wouldn't want to deal with that every night.

Also the health insurance thing is kind of a big deal. Independent plans are crazy expensive- the ones that are reasonable have horrendous coverage- I'm talking 5,000 deductibles. You're young and single now but what about the future? If you are planning to stay there for the long term you really need to think about this.

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Specializes in CTICU.

Yes, you should get call pay. There's no way I would take a job that had a requirement for 24/7 call coverage.

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Specializes in ER, PCU, UCC, Observation medicine.

I think the base rate could be higher. If you're on call every night you need to be compensated for that. no one works for free. Also, they need to provide you with a cell phone, don't waste your minutes for call especially if there is no extra compensation. How about other benefits like 401k with matching? do they pay you're ? You especially need them to cover your other costs like DEA, otherwise the 95k is going to turn into 85k after you front your own insurance, and retirement accounts plus other work related expenses.

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Specializes in Family Practice, Primary Care.

I'm fairly certain I worked for the company you're talking about. PM me.

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So there are other NPs at this facility, can you trade call back and forth? I agree with above that some nights you may want to have a few drinks, see a movie or go out an have fun and the last thing you want is to be feeling good and fielding calls from work. That would be a huge red flag to me. Also, health insurance is god awful expensive- have you priced it lately?

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Well, what did you end up doing?

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