Featured Blog: PA-Cents
Thank you for all those who have followed PA-Cents the past few years! What started out as a way to keep myself accountable for paying off my students loans, has evolved into so much more.
When I first started off blogging my idea was to create something where I could keep track of my student loans. I thought if I put it down in writing I’d have accountability in paying them off. I also wanted to share my journey with others who might be going through the same thing. PA school costs a lot and there are different strategies to pay for it, so I hoped I could share those with future PA students.
As I started to write about paying off student loans I realized one way to pay off your loans is to make more money and dedicate that to your student loan payments. Sometimes that means working more at your current job; picking up extra shifts, working overtime, etc. That can also mean working a second job.
In order to maximize your earning potential, it means you need to know how much you’re worth and negotiating a fair salary. As I talked with other PAs I realized a lot of people didn’t know the average salary of a PA or where to find that information. Also, students I talked with who were considering PA as a career often asked how much PAs make, so I started to blog about PA salary reports and how they compare.
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There are different ways PAs can be paid. One way is through a base salary alone. PAs can also be given a bonus, or paid off production. If you want to maximize your earning potential it is important that you know exactly how you are paid. If you’re paid based on production it is important to know how the production is calculated. Is it based strictly on how many patients you see? Is it based on a percentage of payments? Is it based on RVU?
As I started to talk with colleagues I began to realize that many did not know how their bonus was calculated. RVU production can be confusing, and if you don’t know how to calculate how many RVUs you’re producing, how can you reach your bonus level? You have to know how many and what type of patients you need to see to reach a bonus. With all the questions about RVUs I started to blog on this as well as there seems to be so much confusion about it.
As I’ve talked to students and PAs and have had people ask questions, more topics started to come up and I’ve been blogging about them. My hope is that I’m able to use some of my experiences to help others navigate their careers and PA school; if I’m able to help one person than it is worth it to continue to share. If you have found this blog helpful please share it with other PAs and subscribe to the email. I really appreciate all the support I’ve had from readers since starting the blog and hope it continues to grow!
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