Oh No! They want to cut VA spending!! OMGzers!

NigelTufnel said:
Here:

http://www.birmingham.va.gov/about/

http://www.birmingham.va.gov/about/partners.asp




I didn't say he was solely affiliated with the VA. I said that I don't think it is accurate to call him a part-timer, and I still don't. In fact, I don't know what it means for a surgeon to be a "part-time" surgeon anywhere.

And I'm not sure what the "medical director" stuff is all about. He's a surgeon.
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According to your link: "Most staff [VA] physicians have joint appointments with VA and its primary affiliation, University of Alabama at Birmingham." This supports my assumption that the doctors are part-time with the VA.

Read what a medical director is here: http://www.amda.com/consumers/MedicalDirector.cfm
 
Damn Yankee said:
According to your link: "Most staff [VA] physicians have joint appointments with VA and its primary affiliation, University of Alabama at Birmingham." This supports my assumption that the doctors are part-time with the VA.

Read what a medical director is here: http://www.amda.com/consumers/MedicalDirector.cfm
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I don't think calling a joint appointment "part-time" is accurate.

And who gives a shit what a medical director is? Why is it relevant to the discussion?
 
NigelTufnel said:
I don't think calling a joint appointment "part-time" is accurate.

And who gives a shit what a medical director is? Why is it relevant to the discussion?
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It's entirely accurate. I know several people who are medical directors for a four or five facilities. They get stipends from each of them. It's common practice in the field of medicine.
 
NigelTufnel said:
I don't think calling a joint appointment "part-time" is accurate.

And who gives a shit what a medical director is? Why is it relevant to the discussion?
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Because "medical directors" are what we are talking about, goofball! The Federal government pays them to be VA "medical directors" IN ADDITION to whatever private practices they sometimes also do. DY is correct, the "medical director" gig with the VA is "part time" ...or in addition to, what the doc is already doing. A quarter of a million dollars per year is mighty sweet for a part time job!!!
 
Superfreak said:
No, they are not.
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Yes, sometimes they are! This is just stupid! The list I posted were salaries of Federal employees working in Alabama. The Federal Government pays over 250 people in excess of $200k a year, as "medical officers" for the VA ....what that means, or what it entails, can be any number of things, but they most certainly aren't paying them to run private practices. If they are doctors, and have a private practice, those earnings are in addition to what the government pays them to be VA medical officers. I don't understand why you fuckwits keep pointing to their private practices, as if that somehow negates the $250k salaries from the VA, or makes them 'okay'. The way I see it, if WE are paying them $200k to be VA Med Officers, that's by god what they ought to be! Not private practitioners who also get a bonus check each month, for a part time gig as VA medical officer.
 
christiefan915 said:
Dr. Karthikram Raghuram

Diagnostic Radiology

Male - 9 years experience
Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center
700 19th St S
Birmingham, AL

Read more: http://www.vitals.com/doctors/Dr_Karthikram_Raghuram.html#ixzz1FHB06zs6
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Oh look. After reading more as you suggested:
Dr. Raghuram is affiliated with 2 hospitals :
Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center
700 19th St S, Birmingham, AL

University Of Virginia Health System
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Read more: http://www.vitals.com/doctors/Dr_Karthikram_Raghuram.html#ixzz1FHSpeR9A
 
Dixie said:
Yes, sometimes they are! This is just stupid! The list I posted were salaries of Federal employees working in Alabama. The Federal Government pays over 250 people in excess of $200k a year, as "medical officers" for the VA ....what that means, or what it entails, can be any number of things, but they most certainly aren't paying them to run private practices. If they are doctors, and have a private practice, those earnings are in addition to what the government pays them to be VA medical officers. I don't understand why you fuckwits keep pointing to their private practices, as if that somehow negates the $250k salaries from the VA, or makes them 'okay'. The way I see it, if WE are paying them $200k to be VA Med Officers, that's by god what they ought to be! Not private practitioners who also get a bonus check each month, for a part time gig as VA medical officer.
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While a Medical director IS also a Medical Officer, the reverse is rarely true.

A Medical Director is the head honcho.... person in charge. There is only one per facility. Thus the bulk of medical officers are not also medical directors.

You have shown NO evidence that the bulk of those doctors are part time or that they all run private practices etc...

You are simply making shit up in some vain attempt to justify your earlier ignorance.
 
Superfreak said:
While a Medical director IS also a Medical Officer, the reverse is rarely true.

A Medical Director is the head honcho.... person in charge. There is only one per facility. Thus the bulk of medical officers are not also medical directors.

You have shown NO evidence that the bulk of those doctors are part time or that they all run private practices etc...

You are simply making shit up in some vain attempt to justify your earlier ignorance.
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Since these are the highest paid medical officers I made the reasonable assumption that they were the medical directors. I merely took the first one and showed that he also has a large private practice, thus his VA gig is part time. With Christie's help, I also did that for the third. Since these were the first two that I researched and I scored 100%, it is now up to the opposition to show me that at least some of the folks on this list work for the VA full time.
 
Damn Yankee said:
Since these are the highest paid medical officers I made the reasonable assumption that they were the medical directors. I merely took the first one and showed that he also has a large private practice, thus his VA gig is part time. With Christie's help, I also did that for the third. Since these were the first two that I researched and I scored 100%, it is now up to the opposition to show me that at least some of the folks on this list work for the VA full time.
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There are 20 VA facilities in Alabama. At most, there are 20 Medical directors, assuming they each have one.

That leaves 280 Medical officers that are not.

The very top are likely the Medical Directors as it stands to reason they would be at the top end of the range.
 
Superfreak said:
The very top are likely the Medical Directors as it stands to reason they would be at the top end of the range.
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Isn't that what I just stated?

"Since these are the highest paid medical officers I made the reasonable assumption that they were the medical directors." :confused:
 
Superfreak said:
There are 20 VA facilities in Alabama. At most, there are 20 Medical directors, assuming they each have one.

That leaves 280 Medical officers that are not.

The very top are likely the Medical Directors as it stands to reason they would be at the top end of the range.
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Why does this bit of distraction and minutia have anything to do with the topic? Does it matter that a "medical officer" is not a "medical director?" Does that somehow make it acceptable to be paying over 200 government workers a wage most of us could only dream of? Does their "directorship" justify the level of pay they are receiving in addition to their income from private practice? And what about their federal pensions and retirement benefits? I suppose, since they are dedicated public sector employees, who do this to help the poor unfortunate veterans, they probably don't receive much in the way of perks and benefits, huh?
 
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