Pros
Good salary
- Physicians $160,000 - $205,000
- Dentists $120,000 - $140,000
- Mid-level $80,000 - $114,000
Comprehensive corporate benefits
Example: Private company correctional benefits
- Health insurance by Cigna for self, self + 1 dependent, or family - ranging from 19.00 to 83.00/mo.
- Dental insurance by Cigna
- Vision insurance by Cigna
- Group term life insurance at twice salary
- Accidental Death & Dismemberment at twice salary
- Life assistance program (counseling for personal difficulties, will preparation, identity theft and survivor financial conseling.
- Advocacy services for assistance with medical claims
- Retirement plan - 401K with 5 percent match
- Paid malpractice insurance
Example: State correctional benefits
Benefits for Employees
•
Medical
•Pharmacy Benefits
•Dental
•Vision
•Life Insurance
•Long-term Care
•AD&D
•Long-term Disability
•Short-term Disability
•Flex Spending Account (FSA)
Benefits for Retired Employees
•Medical
•Pharmacy Benefits
•Dental
•Vision
•Life Insurance
•Long-term Care
Pace - Comfortable
Hours - Monday thru Friday day hours - for physicians minimal call; minimal or no return required.
Relief from the stress of:
- the struggle for reimbursement
- the general risk and hassles of private practice
Cons
To the person, the correctional environment itself has never been a problem for the providers that have accepted jobs in prisons. In fact, most providers enjoy the correctional environment, with numerous providers stating that the inmates are better patients than the general public. Nor have we ever experienced any safety issues whatsoever. When problems occur they generally fall into these areas (ranked from highest incidence to lowest):
Inability of providers to adjust to the structured corporate environment, with corporate rules, guidelines, and requirements.
Although support staff is universally reported as excellent, with numerous providers stating that prison support staff is better than they have ever experienced in private practice, the inability of some providers to get along with incumbent support staff has led to termination.
Lack of focus in regard to or unwillingness to learn the existing records system, especially an EMR (Electronic Medical Records) system.
Accepting positions with long commutes. Since many prisons are in rural areas, providers find that commutes they thought would be acceptable begin to wear on them.
