TITLE 38 AT A GLANCE
Eligible: Civil-service physicians, GS-15 level and below, who are
proposed by their institute, center, or division directors. They must regularly
see patients and provide direct patient care or services related to such care,
such as radiology or pathology.
Ineligible: Physicians who primarily perform basic research or develop
drugs and devices. Physicians for whom the Assistant Secretary for Health has
determined there is no significant recruitment or retention problem. Physicians
employed through the Commissioned Corps, SES (or other senior-level systems),
or Title 42 (Staff Fellows, Special Experts). Physicians receiving Physicians
Comparability Allowances (PCA). Re-employed annuitants, dentists,
veterinarians, interns, residents, and part-timers working fewer than 20 hours
per pay period.
Calculating Physician-Specialty Pay (PSP):On top of normal
GS-13, GS-14, or GS-15 clinical physician pay, PSP adds the following
amounts:
- Full-time workers: $9,000 (80-hour tour of duty per pay period; 24-hour,
7-day-work-week obligation).
- Experience pay: $4,000 (for two to three years of service) to $18,000 (14
or more years of service).
- Nationwide Scarce Medical Specialty pay: zero to $40,000 (anesthesiology,
open-heart cardiac surgery, ob-gyn, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, orthopedic
surgery, plastic surgery, radiology, thoracic surgery and vascular surgery),
zero to $30,000 (other cardiology, general surgery, nuclear medicine,
otolaryngology, and urology), zero to $20,000 (gastroenterology, psychiatry,
and pathology), and zero to $15,000 (physical medicine-rehabilitation, primary
care, internal medicine, oncology, and pediatrics).
- Exceptional qualifications within a specialty, as approved by the Assistant
Secretary for Health on a case-by-case basis: up to $15,000.
- Board Certification Pay: $2,000 for the first certification, $500 for each
additional subspecialty or secondary certification.
- Executive responsibility pay: $4,000 to $15,000 for a "Service Chief" and
$14,500 to $25,000 for a "Chief of Staff." Pay is in lieu of scarce medical
specialty pay and will be prorated for the proportion of time spent performing
executive vs. clinical duties.
- Geographic location pay: up to $17,000 in locations with extraordinary
difficulty in recruiting and retaining a specific category of physicians.
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