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Today's Poll!Doctor: Pay not normal
Comp time payment bloated salary
Sunday, September 4, 2011
So far in 2011, the state has paid the medical director at Fulton State Hospital $321,000 — more than the highest-paid state employee earned all last year.
One reason Dr. Narayana Adusumilli has earned more than double his listed salary is because in addition to his day shifts, he has often served as the on-call doctor at Fulton State Hospital during off hours. Like other doctors there, when he stays at the facility overnight or on weekends, he’s paid $72 an hour, regardless of whether he’s working, relaxing, eating or sleeping.
The mental health department has changed its policies on overtime, but one doctor still is required to be on site at the largest three DMH hospitals — Fulton State Hospital, Northwest Missouri Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center and Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center — during nights and weekends.
The department says the shifts are necessary.
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Comments
JCLifer 1 year, 8 months ago
Why not hire more doctors if hey don't like paying the overtime?
This is such a non-issue.
bluesfan13 1 year, 8 months ago
Then the answer is to lobby for changes to NOT require 24-hour psychiatric coverage. You can't cut staff, and not change the legal requirements for number of staff on site. It doesn't work.
ARC 1 year, 8 months ago
There are not many Dr.'s who will sleep in a cinder block room less than 1/2 the size of a dorm room with a bed, mini fridge and a shower that only has cold or scalding hot water. Plus they are threatened by patients who are capable of beating them up. I feel the pay is reasonable. They never talk about the conditions the doctors work in. My husband has been attacked by a patient injured his neck and and got a black eye just because he changed the patients medications. News Tribune needs to get the full story.
John 1 year, 8 months ago
This happens to police officers, deputies, some firemen, dog catchers, etc, on a fairly regular basis. Last I checked, I might be wrong here, NONE of them make ANYWHERE near that amount.
Gabrielle 1 year, 8 months ago
AND the police officers, deputies, firemen are definately working in circumstances that are much more dangerous - therefore, DESERVE more pay - lets include correctional officers also.
renaldo 1 year, 8 months ago
That's ridiculous. That money could be going where it's most needed in the State. More people in the Governor's Office. Do you know how many necessary Governor's Office Staff Members that could pay for.....................At least 1 or 2 high quality stooges.
ARC 1 year, 8 months ago
Last I checked a medical degree takes a lot longer to complete..14years + more for a psychiatrist or other specialist. They are managing patients who are on multiple antipsychotic medications. $72/hour is less than other doctors working night shifts make. The medical director makes so much because he works all day as the medical director then works all night many days. So he could be working 80+ hours in a week. Yes he should be payed for those hours. No one said this job is less dangerous than being a police officer or fireman. If the doctors were not there to take care of these mentally ill patients then they would be on the streets and no one wants that.
Rison 1 year, 8 months ago
Keep trying to justify it. $72/hr, to eat and sleep, working for the state?!?! LOL, how can anyone believe this is ok? Wake up, ARC. Medical degree or not, $72/hr is simply unacceptable, especially when there are other state workers doing more dangerous jobs and making $10-15/hr, IF they are lucky.
bluesfan13 1 year, 8 months ago
So what is an acceptable hourly rate for a board certified psychiatrist?
Gabrielle 1 year, 8 months ago
A board eligible psychiatrist can complete training for this level in 10 - 12 years. Why not have a resident psychitrist cover these hours? If its part of their training, the money part of this is minimal.The resident psychiatrist does the overnight and weekend hours 'in house' and calls 'an attending psychiatrist' to discuss treatment of a given situation/person. Minimal cost to the state.
3blindmice 1 year, 8 months ago
"If the doctors were not there to take care of these mentally ill patients then they would be on the streets and no one wants that."
seems to of worked for the GOP's almighty reagan
wow 1 year, 8 months ago
Arc if it's alright to pay a this doctor $321,00lryly/$72hrs to work at the Fulton State Hospital..then answer this. Why doesn't a military doctor who is working under far worse conditions make a similar salary? The military Doctor is working under much worse conditions and is deployed away from his/her family..yet all he/she get's is a salute, maybe 60K a year and if he/she lives long enough a pension that some don't feel is deserving. Where's the equality in that?
John has a point...Public Safety people put it on the line 24/7/365 and don't get anything near $72hrs. Even worse there are some who work in that profession as volunteers, they pay out of pocket for the training to get certified, to stay licensed and for much of their equipment. In short these are true community hero's and they don't paid squat! So you tell me..."ARC and those who support his/er view" what's up with that? Is the $72hrs to help the Doctor pay back his student loans or for his work? If it's for the loans...well I'd say they should be paid off by now.... And if the people are paying for service...then something is wrong...cause old Doctor Narayana Adusumilli may be providing a service, but he ain't putting his life on the line anymore or any less than the other brave "very" underpaid public servants we all depend on and need. The truth is, it's not the Doctor's fault, it's the people who offered him that salary. By the way....the President of these United States makes $400K the VP $230K and members of congress up around 190K. From where I'm sitting...the Doctor and all these so called "Public Servants" could all stand to take a pay cut and to learn something from the people who are actually "SERVING THE PUBLIC"!!!!!
wow 1 year, 8 months ago
Adjusted version: Arc if it's alright to pay this doctor $321,00lryly/$72hrs to work at the Fulton State Hospital..then answer this. Why doesn't a military doctor make a similar salary? The military Doctor is working under much worse conditions, is deployed away from his/her family,yet all he/she get's is a salute, maybe 60K a year and if he/she lives long enough a pension that some feel is to much. Where's the equality in that?
John has a point...many Public Safety people put it on the line 24/7/365 and don't get anything near $72hrs. What about those public service volunteers that pay out of pocket for their training to get certified, to stay licensed and for much of their equipment? In short, these are true community hero's and they don't get paid squat! Even though they too work the long hours and deal with constant danger.... they get paid nothing! So you tell me..."ARC and those who support his/her view" what's up with that? Is the $72hrs to help the Doctor pay back his student loans or for his work? If it's for the loans...well I'd say they should be paid off by now.... And if the people are paying for service...then something is wrong...cause old Doctor Narayana Adusumilli may be providing a service, but he ain't putting his life on the line anymore than the other brave "very underpaid" and in some cases "not paid at all" public servants we all depend on and need.
By the way....the President of these United States makes $400K the VP $230K and members of congress up around $190K. From where I'm sitting...the Dr. Adusumilli and all the other high priced "Public Servants" could stand to take a pay cut. Maybe then we'd do the right thing and properly pay the people who are actually "SERVING THE PUBLIC"!!!! Not make them rich...but enough to get them off foods stamps, enough to pay for their kids college, enough pay to live comfortably in retirement.
All public Servants should be properly compensated, but over compensation is what continues to hurt us all!!
bluesfan13 1 year, 8 months ago
Not saying there isn't inequity, but that Military doctor most likely got his/her medical school paid for by the military.
bluesfan13 1 year, 8 months ago
This is such a misleading article to being with. This is NOT time that was earned this year. This is comp time that has accumulated over the last decade, that is being paid off this year, because the financial outlook in the next few years is even worse for DMH.
John 1 year, 8 months ago
Are you sure of this? Most political entities, cities, counties, states REQUIRE all comp time to be used within the month following the month in which it was accrued?????
bluesfan13 1 year, 8 months ago
Yes, I'm sure of it. The state of Missouri has no such requirements concerning comp time usage. Up until a couple years ago, MoDOT was still tracking comp time eared "Pre-1987" that was still on the books.
JCLifer 1 year, 8 months ago
Well, that is a problem. How come the governor doesn't fix that?
John 1 year, 8 months ago
That really is interesting. When I worked for DOR, any comp time had to be used within the next pay period window. . . . But I have not seen ANYWHERE in print that this was accrued comp time over a long period of time.
bluesfan13 1 year, 8 months ago
Define "OK".
It's not 'ok' to me that DMH and the legislature (through "budgetary constraints") forced these Psychiatrists to work overtime for comp time rather than allowing more physicians to be hired, and then wouldn't allow payouts of that comp time years ago when the rate would have been $60/hour. The legislature made this baby themselves, and it's a bit hypocritical of them to act surprised about it now. Since it's required that a physician/psychiatrist be on duty at all times, and there aren't enough of them employed for 24 hour coverage, then obviously those who have jobs must work overtime. This goes right along with corrections officers. There are a minimum number that it takes to man a facility with 24 hour coverage, and legislature has budgeted FEWER full-time employees than that, so those who are there work overtime. Just look at how much it 'cost' the state when AFSCME negotiated that the state had to pay out overtime for corrections officers a few years ago. There were hundreds of officers with up to thousands of hours of comp on the books back then. However it probably is "ok" that one board certified psychiatrist is earning $72/hour when they could be earning $150+/hour in the private sector.
Gabrielle 1 year, 8 months ago
My questions:
Why is it: 'The mental health department has changed its policies on overtime, but one doctor still is required to be on site at the largest three DMH hospitals — Fulton State Hospital, Northwest Missouri Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center and Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center — during nights and weekends.'? What is the reason for the continuous coverage?
Isn't it unusual for the Director to do such coverage? How much influence does the Director have in determining the $72/hr on call rate?
Does the doctor on call work the usual work day Friday, then begin coverage Friday night and follow through on Saturday and Sunday, then work a usual Monday work day? How often does this happen?
Curious minds would like to know....
online_editor 1 year, 8 months ago
Reporter Gerry Tritz wanted us to acknowledge comments posted above which correctly note that the payout included compensation for time from prior years. Additional details in the subscriber-accessible version of the article elaborate that $140,000 of the $321,000 paid this year to Dr. Adusumilli was for 2,045 hours of comp time earned over the last 16 1/2 years. --Rick Brown, online editor, News Tribune
Gabrielle 1 year, 8 months ago
Thanks for the reminder. It really raises more questions.
4.Deos that mean the base pay for the doctor is: $321,000 - 140,000 = $181,000?
The $ amounts are net income?
Seems after such a long period of time, there would need to be some really clear documentation remaining after 16!! years as to who should be paid what. How do we know 16 years ago who the doctors were 'ib house'?
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