Here Are Some Tips to Increase Your Salary as a Physician Assistant

Being a physician assistant is great and the salary is definitely something that attracts us to want to continue being in this profession. When it comes to any career, the salary is most often one of the key factors that come into making the decision on whether or not to pursue a chosen career. Having a career that has a high paying salary is something that is expected for those who get their degrees after spending such a long time in school. Someone who is highly paid in their profession has a sense of security which is something that not a lot of people have. 

The health care profession of PA is one of the fastest growing jobs today in 2011, and it is expected that the number of people who take on this profession in the next 20 years will increase by 28% in the United States alone. Advancements in technology and medicine have create more opportunities for PAs in the health care field, and all this is great. 

Yes its great but for the person who has been a PA for a while now, what can they do to increase their salary as a working PA? Some of the ideas that you can do to increase your salary as a PA are.....

• Have good negotiation skills, this should come naturally to you anyway because of the work experience you have gained. Based on basically the amount of years you've worked as a PA, your pay should increase significantly. Especially if you've been working as a PA for over 10 years.
• If you are a PA who has a specialty and bring different skills or improvements to the health care team then this could bring you a increase in pay. When comparing this to a generalist health care provider, there will be a higher demand for someone who has a specialty in a particular field of medicine when a generalist is some who isn't a specialist in any particular field. Generalists basically go to PA school and take the course, but they don't enter into a specialty program.
• Another factor that could increase your salary as a physician assistant would be whether or not you practiced independently. Self employed PAs will have the highest grossing salaries among other PAs who choose to have a employer. PAs who work in hospitals will have a higher salary than those who have a private practice. The salary range for PAs who work in hospitals can be from $70,000 to $88,000 and those with a private practice can earn anywhere between $60,000 to $80,000. It is predicted that in the year 2015 that the starting salaries for PAs will most likely be at $65,000 no matter what their status of employment is.
• The type of specialty certification you have can greatly increase your salary as a PA because the more specialized the certification, the more valuable the person is in an employer's eyes.
• Your salary could be greater based on the size of the company that you work for. If you work for a company that has more than 50,000 employees then you can expect that company to pay you anywhere from $70,000 to $95,000 a year which is great.
• A PA's salary could be determined based on how reputable the school they graduate from is. The University of Nebraska has one of the best PA programs in the country and graduate from there usually earn a starting salary ranging from $70,000 to $93,000. The University of Washington, the University of Florida, and Duke University are all schools that could help you earn a good starting salary even before you start working as a PA.

The salary is a great perk to being a physician assistant, but the real reward is the experiences that come with this career.