An offer letter tells you the salary. It rarely tells you what Tuesday will feel like. The physicians and APPs who are happiest in a new role usually asked sharper questions up front, about the schedule, the team, the support and the culture, before they ever signed.
Whether you’re actively interviewing or just quietly exploring, use these twelve questions to see past the pitch. Ask the same ones of every employer; the differences in the answers are the information you need.
Ask for clinic sessions, inpatient or procedural time, admin time and how the schedule is built. Request a sample template, not a description.
Frequency, home versus in-house, backup coverage, post-call expectations and how call is compensated all vary widely.
Understand targets, how they’re tracked, how new clinicians ramp up and what happens when volume is slower than expected.
Look at staffing ratios for nurses and medical assistants, plus the use of scribes or documentation tools and the availability of specialist colleagues for consults.
Ask how much protected time exists for charting and messages and what the organization is doing to reduce the administrative load.
Clarify scope of practice, autonomy, how patients are assigned, whether you see your own panel, and what the path to senior roles looks like.
A structured first 90 days, a named mentor and a gradual ramp-up are signs of an organization invested in your success.
Look for specifics: wellness councils, burnout surveys that lead to action, peer support and leadership that talks openly about the results.
Whether you want to precept students, supervise residents, lead quality work or stay purely clinical, ask how people have grown in this role.
Ask to speak with a current colleague or two. Their unfiltered answers are worth more than any brochure.
Beyond base pay: incentive structure, sign-on and relocation, loan repayment, CME time and funds, retirement, malpractice and tail coverage, and any non-compete terms. Have a qualified attorney review the contract.
Ask about investments, growth plans and leadership stability, so you know the position you’re joining will still be strong in five years.
The same question can have very different answers depending on where you practice. If you’re deciding between environments, consider what energizes you most.
Teaching residents and students, subspecialty depth, complex cases and research or leadership opportunities, in a larger, faster-moving environment.
Close working relationships across departments, broad scope, patients and colleagues you come to know well, and a strong connection to the town you serve.
Continuity with patients and families over years, a care-team model, and the chance to shape a community’s health, with schedules often built around predictable clinic time.
Baystate Health offers all three settings in one system: Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, a 716-bed academic medical center that is home to the area’s only Level 1 trauma center, Baystate Children’s Hospital and UMass Chan Medical School – Baystate; community hospitals in Greenfield (Franklin Medical Center), Springfield (Baystate Mercy, newly part of the system as of November 1), Westfield (Noble Hospital) and Palmer (Wing Hospital); and Baystate Primary Care across western Massachusetts. That range lets clinicians find the practice style they want, and ask these twelve questions of us, too.
Whether you’re ready to move or simply gathering information, we’d welcome the conversation. Explore current physician and advanced practice opportunities across Baystate Medical Center, our community hospitals and Baystate Primary Care.