Life insurance is sometimes offered. But the truth is, the levels aren’t high, and you can do better securing this sort of thing on your own.

You can find all these on your own through ACEP at group rates, or through a good benefit agent. Paid vacations are also primarily a thing of the past, with most groups and employers working the vacation leave into the schedule. Another true value is CME stipend which should be at the $5K level each year for the private sector, without paid time to take it. Finally, that malpractice coverage is the last thing you want to ignore. Make sure it is at least $1MM/$3MM and that tail is provided, or at the very least, earned over time.

Next month

In May, we’ll look at true values in the prevalent incentive income packages and the essential pension/retirement programs.

Barb Katz is the owner of The Katz Company EMC Inc., an emergency medicine consulting and recruitment firm. She has been writing about emergency medicine careers and teaching effective job searching to residents for nearly 20 years. She can be reached at katzco@cox.net.

[Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series examining each part of emergency physician compensation packages.]