NP salary too low?

Specialties NP

Published

I have recently accepted a NP position in North Carlina for 77K. It is a federal job with 7 weeks leave, comfortable working hours, no call and excellent benefits. Still, I have one year of experience in neurology (the new position is in the same specialty) and three years as a RN. I can't help feeling I am being underpaid. The position is marginally more than I make now.

Thoughts?

Specializes in Cardiac, ER.

Very interesting thread. I graduated in May and just accepted a position in an ED. I have 11 years experience in the ED as an RN and 20 yrs with the hospital. During my job search I had an interesting conversation with an MD, which kind of surprised me. He reminded me that I am no longer an expense to the hospital, I am generating money. I am able to charge for my services and am reimbursed at approximately 85% of what the physician is reimbursed, so why isn't my salary 85% of his? I did not get 85% of his salary, but I was lucky enough to make it to the > $100,000/yr rate. This was a slight raise for me vs my RN salary. However I am now a salaried employee with no overtime option. I agree with others, we all need to unite and fix this. This physician also reminded me that as a whole we (APRN's) out number the physicians and if we could unite and all get on the same page to negotiate together we could accomplish so much more!

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I was offered 90 K in North Carolina as a new grad, no on-call, no overtime, 22 days PTO, really nice benefits. I took it. Friends of mine from grad nursing school were offered anything between 80k and 150k in various parts of the East Coast.

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I am in Charlotte as a new grad I took a position with a place I did clinical hours because I thought it would be a good starter place. I am a PMHNP and they started me at 91,500 + benefits

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Specializes in Critical Care, Cardiothoracic/Cardiology.

Since CMS (at the advice of the AMA) wants to reimburse NP's at 85% of what is the billable rate of a physician, why not require that as NP's we get reimbursed at the same rate? Where is the ANA or the AANP for support with regards to compensation?

Example: If a hospitalist makes $250,000/annually, then 85% is $212,000/annually. Depending on the states, autonomy, etc., why shouldn't a NP make 85% of a physician?

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
Since CMS (at the advice of the AMA) wants to reimburse NP's at 85% of what is the billable rate of a physician, why not require that as NP's we get reimbursed at the same rate? Where is the ANA or the AANP for support with regards to compensation?

Example: If a hospitalist makes $250,000/annually, then 85% is $212,000/annually. Depending on the states, autonomy, etc., why shouldn't a NP make 85% of a physician?

Although fundamentally I agree the truth is there are many NP specialities that can't do everything a physician does so that is a bit problematic however I agree 100% that so many NPs are underpaid it is disgusting. I'm not sure why the ANA or AANP would need to get involved if our own peers would learn their value, discuss it with other NPs so employers are forced to be transparent and run their careers like the business they are rather than with the sense of martyrdom so many seem to embrace.

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why not require that as NP's we get reimbursed at the same rate? Where is the ANA or the AANP for support with regards to compensation?

There are a number of reasons for this, some of them are not politically correct so I won't mention them. But, generally, employers pay a whole lot less for NPs because they can. There is a glut of NPs out there with many desperate to find work and will happily take a low paying gig. I'm not making this up. People come here and post it all the time. Not the same scenario with physicians. You see, the AMA understands politics and economics a whole lot better than nursing organizations seem to do. This is one of the reasons why there has been no real push to significantly increase the number of medical schools in the USA or any effort to make it any easier for med school applicants to get in. And foreigners who come to the USA with medical education and backgrounds often have a hell of a time meeting the qualifications to take the boards here to become physicians. All of these things are exactly the opposite in nursing. It is extremely easy to get into NP school and to pass the NP boards.

Its like anything else in economics, when you flood the market with it the price goes down. The ANA is actually a self-serving entity that doesn't really do anything for nurses or nursing. Perhaps the nursing and NP organizations could make a difference but most nurses and NPs do not have memberships in them.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
Perhaps the nursing and NP organizations could make a difference but most nurses and NPs do not have memberships in them.

It seems like its always a small collection of NPs in my state who work like dogs to promote our cause and the rest who reap the rewards have zero interest in learning about what is going on and definitely won't get off their M-F 9-5 butts to do any of the leg work.

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