Call money questuon

[Ronason]

Question to those of you who take call and get paid:

I began my career as an employee and my "boss" took all of my call stipend. I vowed to not let that happen again.

I take call now as a partner in a single specialty practice. My partner is older and takes zero call other than our own personal patients. I do it as a sole proprietor 1099 side job and pay quarterly estimated taxes, max out a solo 401K, etc. Its been a tremendous thing as far as masochistic things go.

Now there's a new opportunity where a hospital wants to sign an agreement with us to provide coverage for their hospital, bringing in ~150K to the practice. My partner wants to take pretty much no call still, leaving me to take it with one associate, and have the money go to the practice. I don't like this at all obviously and feel like if I'm doing the majority of the work, I should keep most of that call income. I certainly don't feel like he deserves a large portion or half of that money. What do you guys think about this? I want to be fair and a team player but call is no benign thing and I should be rewarded for the work input. He hasn't exactly stated how it should be divided but I'd like some perspective before he starts talking about it. Thanks.

[jhwkr542]

Just talk to him about it frankly. Sometimes brutal honesty is not only acceptable but the right way to approach things, especially when it comes to money. Figure out how the call and income will be divided. If you can't find common ground, then don't take the offer. Or take the offer with your side gig.

[The White Coat Investor]

I agree it doesn't seem fair for a doctor not taking call to get paid for you taking call. If he doesn't agree are you sure you want to be in a partnership with him?

[jjandjab]

I would just present it as the 150k will be divided by the number of nights/percentage of call per partner. There is really no plausible argument for someone not taking call to get part of that pool of money, especially when it is new business.

[Zaphod]

Agree. Its pretty simple from a leverage standpoint as well. You either get almost all of it or all of it, or you dont do it. You're in control.

[Dr P]

Do you guys have any perspective on Ronason's initial situation as an employee, as that is my current situation.  I'm currently on 4 call schedules attempting to build my practice, while most of the other physicians in our multi-specialty group, including the two owners, do not take ER call.  I'll be renegotiating my contract soon and was wondering if I have a case for keeping my call money.  I'll be posting into another thread whether or not buying into the practice makes sense.

Thanks

[Zaphod]

Dr P wrote:

Do you guys have any perspective on Ronason’s initial situation as an employee, as that is my current situation.  I’m currently on 4 call schedules attempting to build my practice, while most of the other physicians in our multi-specialty group, including the two owners, do not take ER call.  I’ll be renegotiating my contract soon and was wondering if I have a case for keeping my call money.  I’ll be posting into another thread whether or not buying into the practice makes sense.

Thanks

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I just dont understand how you get zero of the call money if its not some mandatory part of your employment and no one else is doing it. That is seriously crazy. Its best to find out if you have any leverage or other options of course since if you dont it might not matter and they can just let you go. Best to know what you bring and how to frame it so it is more on a mutually beneficial presentation than adversarial.

You can literally have the same objective and outcomes but either come across as an opponent and make the other party defensive and angry, or frame it to where its in both of your best interests and theyre excited to get it done. All in the framing and delivery. Find out what the other parties main desires and concerns are, frame your side to make those issues dealt with and heard, while still just getting exactly what you want. Win win.

[Dr P]

Thanks, Zaphod, for the feedback.  It's not mandatory that I take call per se.  I'm currently on my original contract, but I'll be meeting with the owners in a couple weeks.  I'm trying to get an idea of what the norm is prior to that meeting.  I currently take call for my surgical specialty and subspecialty.  The owners and most of the other docs are in a different surgical specialty and have an elective practice.  The bigger question is whether or not this practice is the right fit for me.  I'll get into that in another thread.