ANCO and MOASC are cooperating on a joint 2018 Staff Salary Survey. The Staff Salary Survey is being mailed to ANCO member practices in mid-May (and will be simultaneously e-mail/FAX broadcast). Download a copy of the Survey here; responses are requested by September 30 and a $50 Visa Gift Card will be provided for completed and submitted surveys.

2016 STAFF SALARY SURVEY REPORT

A staff salary survey was mailed to all individual members and their contacts (i.e., nurse and office managers) at community oncology practices in May 2016 (with several follow-up notices throughout 2-3Q2016). The purpose of this survey was to update data relevant to practice expenses in California and to follow-up the biennial salary surveys from 1995 to 2013 in northern California. For 2016, data was collected in northern California by ANCO and in southern California by MOASC.

Fourteen (14) ANCO (8) and MOASC (6) member practices responded to the survey. Seven (7) responding practices were from metropolitan/urban regions; one (1) from a metropolitan region; three (3) from suburban regions; and, three (3) failed to report their region. Ten (10) were group practices; three (3) were solo practices; and, one (1) failed to report the size of their practice.

There are an average of 6.14 and a median of 3.5 physicians per practice in the reported data with a minimum of 1 physician and a maximum of 40 physicians. There are an average of 42.82 and a median of 20 non-physician employees per practice with a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 250. In summary, there were slightly fewer physicians and slightly more non-physician employees in the practices reproting for 2016 versus 2013.

Survey Question Data

Twelve (12) respondents review employee salaries on an annual basis with the review dates scheduled according to budget periods (3), employee anniversaries (5), or other (5) dates. Eleven (11) respondents conduct formal evaluation sessions with their employees; two (2) do not.

The range of salary increases anticipated for 2016 was 0% to 5% with a median increase of 2-4%. Salary adjustments are based on both merit and cost of living (11) or based solely on merit (3).

Among responding practices, receptionists, nurses, and medical assistrants are the positions with the most turnover during the past year. Responding practices added billers, physician extenders (MAs, NPs), and nurses during the past year; they reduced billing, medical records, and business office staff. Newly created positions at responding practices included certified and oral pharmacy techs, combined medical assistant/recepetionist/phlebotomist, telephone operator, and variety of coordinators, supervisors, and managers. Authorization coordinators, billing/collections staff, bookeepers, and file clerks were eliminated by the responding practices.

Download the survey question/benefits data (as a pdf document).

Salary Data

The salary data presented below are not stratified by employee tenure, setting, or location—each of which may have an impact on employee wages. However, the minimum, maximum, average, and median wages for specific job definitions are reported below along with past data (where available). The 2016 data is highlighted in red. For definitions of the job categories, download the survey.

Download the raw data file (in Excel format).

Some notes on the data:

1. MOASC (southern Calfiornia data) collected starting in 2016.
2. Red indicates data collected for 2016.
3. Medians are provided starting in 2003 and were not calculated for previous years.
4. Clerical/Insurance is changed to Biller in 2005.
5. Computer Operators are included in the Office Assistant/Clerk category starting in 2003.
6. Lab Technicians/Managers were separated into two categories starting in 2003; they were previously included in the same category (Lab Technician). Lab Technicians were changed to Lab Assistants/Phlebotomists in 2005.
7. Medical Secretaries are included in the Transcriptionist category starting in 2003.
8. Medical Technologists were added in 2005.
9. Office Assistants/Clerks are separated from the Clerical/Insurance category starting in 2003.
10. Registered Nurses have been separated into Nurse Managers, Oncology Nurses, Other Nursing, and Physician Extenders starting in 2003.
11. Radiation Therapist is changed to Radiation Technologist starting in 2005.
12. Research is separated in Research Assistant (RN), Research Assistant (non-RN), and Research Manager/Coordinator starting in 2005.
13. Small Office Manager was Office Manager before 2005.
14. Dosimetrist, Financial Counselors, and IT were added as a separate categories in 2013.
15. Radiation Tech/Therapist, X-Ray Tech, and Chief Radiation Tech were separated into individual categories in 2013.

The average hourly rate for Biller, Billing Coordinator/Manager, Bookkeeper, IT, Laboratory Assistant/Phlebotomist, Laboratory Manager, Medical Assistant, Multi-Purpose Worker, Nurse Manager, Office Assistant/Clerk, Oncology Nurse, Pharmacy Technician, Physician Extenter, Radiation Oncology Technologist, Small Office Manager, Transcriptionist, and X-ray Technician increased from 2013 to 2016.

The average hourly rate for Financial Counselor, Radiation Oncology Manager, and Research Manager/Coordinator decreased from 2013 to 2016

Other average hour rates remained essentially the same (i.e., plus/minus less than $1/hour).

Download the complete database for the 2016 Staff Salary Survey in Excel format. The database includes the categories reported above (i.e., job description), the job titles provided by the respondents, hours worked per week, number of years on the job (i.e., <2, 2-5, >5), date of last increase, and an indicator for job setting (i.e., metropolitan/urban/suburban or rural) and location (northern or southern California). In addition, the minimums, maximums, averages, and medians for northern and southern California are also reported.

Thanks to Mariana Lamb, MOASC Executive Director, and Bimal J. Patel, M.D., for assisting on this project.,