Basic vs. Complete Package and FAQs
The Basic Package is intended for those physicians who have experience and/or training in negotiating and reviewing physician contracts. The vast majority of our clients do not have this type of background, and recognize that medical school and residency does not equip them for these tasks.
The benefits review (provided by Physician Advisors) is essentially the same with the Basic and Complete Packages. The main difference is the legal review. With the Basic Package, an attorney will review the physician contract and write his comments on the document. That is it. There is no discussion of those comments and what they mean. There is no “strategizing” with the attorney on how to prioritize what should be brought up with the employer and how to do so. In addition, the physician doesn’t have the opportunity to ask questions stemming from the attorney’s review.
Most of our clients opt for the Complete Package because it provides two key additional aspects: (1) a conference to discuss the attorney’s review of the offer and (2) the opportunity to discuss with the attorney the employer’s eventual response.
(1) Conference. The conference is an invaluable service for the physician. The attorney does not merely read back his comments during this call. Rather, during the call (which lasts 1 hour, on average) the review takes on several “added dimensions” that are impossible to reach with the Basic Package:
Background and context to offer. In the Basic Package scenario, the attorney is inherently limited in his ability to see the “full context” of the employment opportunity. He is presented merely with a piece of paper, and not the various circumstances, considerations and discussions that are unique to each physician’s relationship with the employer. Is the employer hiring another physician at the same time and is therefore relatively unwilling to “budge” on many terms, so as not to favor one physician over the other? Is this your only job offer after 6 months of job searching, and you just want to know if there are any “non-negotiables”? Are you looking to leave this employer after two or three years, and if so, want to make sure that you can do so with no non-compete, taking earned bonuses with you, etc.? These are examples of actual circumstances that we have experienced and not discovered until the conference. Often physicians forget to mention such extremely important circumstances on the online intake form, or simply don’t know that mentioning such things impact the attorney’s review.
Priorities are set and re-examined. At the end of his initial review of the physician contract, the attorney has a general idea on what he thinks should be the “most important” items to revisit with the employer. Inevitably, however, during the conference, as the attorney gets to know the physician, his/her desires, as well as the fuller context and background to the offer, and therefore the hierarchy of these important items evolves. Most of the time, the list of “most important” things at the end of the conference is much different from that at the beginning of the conference.
Guidance on HOW to negotiate. OK - so you have a document with the attorney’s revisions and comments on it. What now? How do you organize those thoughts into a list of priorities and communicate what you want to your employer? This is where the art of negotiation begins. The attorneys in our network are professionally trained and make their living negotiating physician contracts. Physicians are not trained to do this. During the conference, the attorney will walk you through what we call “Negotiating 101”: how to develop a list of priorities, and how to communicate those to the employer.
The attorney poses questions to the physician. Many times, the physician contract will present questions to the attorney, who isn’t armed with enough information to answer them himself/herself. Under the Basic Package, the best the attorney can do is write down the questions on the physician contract, and send it back to the physician. Under the Complete Package, the attorney makes a note of the questions, asks and discusses them during the conference, and then revises the document in light of the discussion.
The physician poses questions to the attorney. Inevitably, either after submitting the physician contract online, or after receiving the revised physician contract from the attorney, the physician will have additional questions. The attorney’s marked up physician contract commonly sheds light on new issues that the physician hasn’t even thought about. (This shouldn’t be surprising since attorneys are professionally trained to spot such issues, while physicians are not.) Under the Basic Package, the physician doesn’t have the opportunity to ask these follow up questions. Under the Complete Package, the physician does.
(2) Review of employer’s response. Once you have gone back to your employer and discussed things, the employer will respond (often by way of a newly revised physician contract). In their response, did the employer address all the key points? Do the employer’s new revisions make sense and accurately reflect what you asked for? Under the Complete Package, the attorney will review these and other items related to the employer’s response.
FAQ’s
1. I don’t have the money to pay for the Complete Package.
Sophisticated financial and legal services are never cheap! At the same time, we believe that our prices are very reasonable. We believe physicians would have a hard time finding our level of service at a better price.
At the same time, it’s not unreasonable to think of our price as an investment. Spending money for our services now may save (or earn) you more money later on - even as early as while you work with us. While we cannot guarantee results, often an extra $300 (the price for an upgrade from the Basic to Complete Package) can yield much higher dollar savings, for example (these are actual results of some physicians we have worked with):
- During a conference, the attorney explains why the physician ought to ask for a salary increase: at the current scale, the salary is barely at the 25th percentile, the opportunity is in an expensive metropolitan area, and the physician’s pedigree is seemingly second-to-none. In response, the employer offers a salary increase - to the tune of $100,000 per year.
- During a conference, the attorney explains why the physician ought to ask for a sign-on bonus, which was omitted from the initial offer. In response, the employer offers a $7,500 sign-on bonus.
- During a conference, the attorney explains why the physician ought to ask for an increase in CME expenses. In response, the employer offers a $1,500 increase.
2. My employer told me that this is a standard physician contract that they don’t really change. Therefore, I don’t really need anything more than the Basic Package.
A lot of employers say that. It’s not true. EVERYTHING is negotiable and these physician contracts are changed and revised all the time. Sometimes the employer is embarrassed into changing the physician contract because the attorney in our network finds errors and legally unenforceable provisions! The attorneys in our network can assist you (mainly through the conference) to identify priorities and educate you on how to negotiate needed changes.
3. My employer is hiring other physicians along with me, and they want to give us all the same physician contract, and they don’t want to change the document they gave me.
See Answer to Question 2.
4. I have experience negotiating and reviewing physician contracts. I just want them to double-check and I can handle everything else.
The attorneys in our network are professionally trained to review physician contracts and negotiate them. The attorneys in our network each review and negotiate at least 100 physician contracts per year. This amount of annual experience may be unmatched anywhere in the country. With our attorneys, it is much more likely nothing will get overlooked and that - with their guidance - you will be confident and assertive in negotiating.
