High Productivity is Celebrated...until it isn't.

In an ironic twist to my elevated productivity as a fee basis examiner, I had his supreme indolency take the trouble to drop by my office and let me know that my increased numbers (which had necessitated a salary waiver as I had hit my max after five months) had raised a few eyebrows. Although he was attributing it to "someone pretty high in Dallas" (high, he he), I'm sure most of it was coming from him. 

I reacted immediately (as I usually do, sometimes to my detriment) by telling him that I would welcome anyone who wants to take a close look at any of my work/exams and let me know what's lacking or inappropriate. I know my exams are complete by VA standards and I also know that I don't perform exams unless they're requested or justified in the case of a recently discharged veteran who requests to add a few more claims. 

As I explained to dicktug, I'm preferentially getting these bulk Gulf War exams which typically include 10+ actual claims and then an equal number of medical opinions for each claim. This can very quickly run my daily numbers to 20+. He made some sort of brief comment about his ability to generate those numbers which I just ignored because this jackhole was one of the examiners that weren't breaking 40 exams in a month. I've done more than that in one day. 

I also explained to him that I often take on other examiner's work because they call in sick or because they can't be bothered to complete opinions or equivalent. Our admin staff preferentially asks me to do these types of exams because I don't argue with them or make them feel bad for asking. Many of the regular Federal employees are downright adversarial to the people who are just trying to do their jobs and help veterans. 

When I was a regular Federal employee I had the second highest (out of 20ish examiners) productivity in the clinic. Now as a fee basis, I think it's possible I'm the highest, but I haven't been looking at the clinic numbers anymore. I'm definitely generating higher per day numbers as it's not uncommon that I get 25 or more exams in a day. I assume part of his problem is that my elevated productivity makes the glacial examiners look even worse by comparison. 

I'm not sure if the current scenario can be sustained, but I'm hoping things will move slowly as they do in the Federal government. I'm also hoping that we'll continue to have our minimal producers occupying full time slots which will in turn keep the demand up for fee basis examiners like myself.

I think he is offended by the situation in which a lowly PA like myself (in his eyes) can earn an equal income to his while working significantly fewer days and not having to deal with a lot of the regular federal pain (actually my total is probably greater considering my other incomes). I've met several doctors like him in the past that seem to think they have earned a perpetual income just based on their diplomas and not based on any work they're doing now. The good doctors (most of them) judge other providers on their own merits and don't make assumptions based on degrees held. We've never heard them express concern that we have doctors earning huge salaries while doing little to no work. The VA has a prevalence of these types, I think it's one of the primary attractions to the job.