How I got an FQHC job without underselling myself

April 30, 2026

By Kun Chhai Meas, MD

When I set out to find my first job after my residency and fellowship, I expected a challenge because what I most hoped to do was very specific: I wanted to work with underserved patients. I’d also given a lot of thought to how salary would factor into those specific aims and potentially limit my choices.

The AAFP’s Family Medicine Career Benchmark Dashboard helped me, as an early career family physician, find the right job for the right salary. And advocating for myself in the hiring process has helped me be a better advocate for community-oriented care.

With the dashboard’s data newly updated, I want to tell you how I used information about compensation, benefits and job satisfaction in that tool to understand my worth.

I’m proud to say I’m one of those bleeding hearts who loves working at a federally qualified health center (FQHC). (My wife is also a family doc at an FQHC.) After residency at an FQHC, I completed a yearlong fellowship in community medicine. These experiences cemented how much I valued delivering truly whole-person care centered on improving community health, particularly for patients experiencing homelessness and those transitioning from incarceration. So when I was looking for a job, I’d already seen what my ideal situation looked like.

Next, I had to set my expectations for compensation. But I work in California, where the pay family physicians earn at FQHCs can be vastly different from county to county.

I started by looking at AAFP CareerLink and other databases to survey available jobs. My chapter, the California AFP, offers a new-physician toolkit, developed within the past few years. It’s very useful, especially in combination with the Academy’s dashboard. All of that helped me figure out not just salary but how potential workplaces were treating employment.

Then, instead of assuming that everyone at an FQHC would be underpaid, I used the AAFP’s dashboard to dig in and see where I’d be compensated appropriately, find a work-life balance and have a say in clinic processes. I needed data that would help me determine my worth not just in salary terms, but also in terms of my patient panel’s uniqueness. The dashboard delivered.

Without good data, job-search strategies can feel limited to the anecdotal and the old-fashioned: You ask around. I talked with my co-residents as I was ending residency about what they were seeing. I don’t think any of us had a full sense of how different the offers would be among various practices or about what would be in a long-term contract.

Even prepared with data, I didn’t know exactly what a fair job offer would look like. My impulse was to compare myself with colleagues who were entering big systems and maybe not taking as many Medicaid or Medicare patients, but I knew that wouldn’t be apples-to-apples.

The dashboard helped me review the offers I eventually got.

I was a new physician, coming out of a fellowship with a set salary. I didn’t expect three offers in short succession. When one came, I didn’t count on a second.

The first offer I had was from a relative-value-unit-based facility, where I would be seeing some Medicaid patients.

Then I had one from an FQHC that offered decent time off but much less pay than what the dashboard showed me was a good target.

Not that this was about salary alone. We all need flexibility as part of recognizing our worth. Is there family leave? Is there paid leave to conduct medical volunteer or mission work? Will there be room for me to do the things outside of regular clinic that fill my cup?

The offer I accepted was exactly 20% higher than the one from that initial FQHC. That felt huge. I would not have even been close to that number if it weren't for the Family Medicine Career Benchmark Dashboard. The offer also had the flexibility I needed.

To back up a moment: The lowest-paying contract I was offered was that first place. Being unsure I was going to get another offer, it would have been easy to say yes. I almost undersold myself.

With the dashboard’s data in mind, though, I asked for a higher salary. They didn’t take my counter, which told me what future negotiations with that employer might be like.

Employers, especially larger systems, expect to get new physicians at a lower rate. We practice in a for-profit health system that undervalues primary care, so if clinicians will accept lower pay because they don't understand their value, an employer will offer what makes sense to its bottom line.

It’s all business. But that actually frees us to negotiate as businesspeople. Understanding our value gives us room to say no when an offer doesn’t meet what we’re worth.

Knowing my value has allowed me to focus on helping those who are experiencing homelessness and those who are transitioning from incarceration. That outreach may not have been possible if I hadn’t taken into account what meant the most to me as a physician and then made sure that I brought my values into the negotiation.

Yes, I wanted a salary that reflected my years of training and my experience, but I also sought a clinic that was willing to let me work in high-risk social situations and treat patients in distress. This is the work that fills my cup, and I’m lucky because my partners in this clinic are also passionate about this patient population.

I’m hyper-focused on this population locally, but patients such as mine are everywhere and deserve the same level of care anywhere. We need more physician leaders able to change the culture within their own clinics and take on this challenge. I know there are young physicians who have similar goals, who want to take a similar path, but they may be concerned about financial or career stability. I’m proof that, with the help of the AAFP, you can make a difference without taking a financial hit. My career is sustainable. And I look forward to mentoring people who want to take a similar path.

The dashboard helped me find out that I’ll be able to work toward my life’s goal and do it as a physician. I am so happy that I am in my current position. I haven’t looked back since I took the job.

Kun Chhai Meas, MD, is a family physician practicing in Santa Ana, California.