Northwell Physicians, Executives, and Employees

Where the money is

The 457(b) balance is a promise, and the default is distribution

Northwell’s 457(b) is available to team members at a not-for-profit Northwell entity in benefit group 1 or 1a whose annual base salary and augmentation is $175,000 or more; team members at a for-profit entity are offered a 409A plan instead. There are no employer contributions to either. The 457(b) plan document states that participants’ rights are solely those of “general unsecured creditors” of the employer, and that the plan is “a mere promise by the Employer to make benefit payments in the future.” The Internal Revenue Service’s description of non-governmental 457(b) plans is consistent: the plan must be limited to a select group of management or highly compensated employees, and plan assets are not held in trust but remain the property of the employer, available to its general creditors in litigation or bankruptcy.

Three consequences follow.

• The money is not set aside for you. It remains Northwell’s property and is not held in trust for you. A participant is a general unsecured creditor for the full balance.
• It cannot be rolled over. Federal law allows rollovers from a 457(b) only when the employer is a state or local government, so this balance cannot go to an IRA, a 401(k) or a 403(b). Amounts are included in income in the year they are paid or made available to you, and the age-50 catch-up is not allowed in a non-governmental plan; only the special catch-up in the three years before normal retirement age is.
• The default is distribution. Northwell’s 2026 Planning Your Retirement guide states that if you do not make an election within 90 days of separation, “Transamerica is required to make a distribution automatically, taxes will apply and there will be no refunds.” The plan document says distribution commences on or about April 1 of the year after severance unless you elect to defer. The two do not match, so confirm the operative deadline with Transamerica directly.

An automatic distribution puts the whole balance into one year’s income, on top of final salary, and Social Security generally uses the tax return from two years earlier to set Medicare premiums. Decide the payment schedule before the separation date, using the election rules in the plan document.

If you also have a 409A deferred compensation arrangement

Northwell offers its 409A plan to eligible team members at for-profit entities. The plan document is posted only as a scanned image, so its terms cannot be read here. The federal rules are the same for every such plan. Deferred amounts can be paid only on a permitted event: a specified time or fixed schedule, separation from service, disability, death, a change in control, or an unforeseeable emergency. The initial election of when and how you are paid must generally be made by the end of the year before the year in which the services are performed. A later change is allowed only if it does not take effect for 12 months, defers the payment at least five years beyond the original date (except for payments on death, disability or an unforeseeable emergency) and, for payments at a specified time, is made at least 12 months before that date. A failure makes vested deferred amounts taxable for the year of the failure, with a 20% additional tax and interest at the underpayment rate plus one percentage point. Because the first election comes before the work is done and later changes are limited, the payment schedule is set years before retirement.

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Age 62: the year’s employer contribution and the pension lump sum

The 403(b) and 401(k) plan documents, as restated July 1, 2025, condition the annual employer basic and matching contributions on your being in service on the last day of the plan year, or having died, incurred a disability, or retired on or after attaining age 62 during that year. Under that wording, retiring at 60 in November means no basic or matching contribution for that year: for a physician hired before July 2018, basic and match together are 8% of pay. The 2026 benefits guides say only “except for disability, retirement or death.” They omit the age 62 qualifier.

Age 62 governs the pension as well. If you have a cash balance benefit, you may elect a lump sum only if you separate at age 62 or later, or defer receipt to at least age 62; otherwise the benefit is payable as an annuity, with a narrow exception for small balances. Interest credits continue until the pension actually commences, at the average 30-year Treasury yield from September through November of the prior plan year, so deferring commencement to 62 both preserves the lump sum option and keeps the balance crediting. For a senior physician the lump-sum-against-annuity decision at 62 can be a large one, and the annuity calculator on this site shows what the balance is actuarially worth as income under the federal basis.

The cash balance account receives pay credits of 3% of eligible pay each quarter, up to the IRS compensation limit, and interest credits at the average 30-year Treasury yield from September through November of the prior plan year.

The final year, on a calendar

For a physician or executive the last twelve months at Northwell are a sequence of dates, not one retirement date. Employer contributions post in the month after year end, so confirm the final year’s money has posted before moving the account. The 457(b) election has its own deadline after separation, and the default is distribution. The pension election packet is mailed four to five weeks after retirement and must be returned within 30 days of the letter date. Retiree medical requires coverage under a Northwell medical plan on the last active day and, for the enhanced pre-65 plan, age 62 with 20 years of service and six consecutive years on a Northwell medical plan. Moving to per diem status does not let you start the pension. Put every one of those on a single calendar before the resignation letter.

Plan mechanics

The plan mechanics for everyone

What follows applies to every Northwell employee: which plan you are in, what Northwell contributes, vesting, the acquired-hospital plans, the newer pension option, retiree medical and the mechanics at separation.

Which plan you are in

• Hired before July 1, 2018 at a not-for-profit Northwell entity: the 403(b) Plan, plus a cash balance benefit in the Northwell Health Pension Plan.
• Hired on or after July 1, 2018, or at a for-profit entity: the 401(k) Plan. No cash balance benefit.

Collectively bargained groups have their own arrangements and their own vesting schedules. If you are in a union, check your collective bargaining agreement and plan summary; the figures below may not apply to you.

What Northwell contributes

If you are	Basic	Match	Cash balance	Total
Non-union, hired before 7/1/2018	3%	2%	3%	8%
Non-union, hired on/after 7/1/2018	5.5%	2%	none	7.5%
Physician or executive, before 7/1/2018	6%	2%	3%	11%
Physician or executive, on/after 7/1/2018	8.5%	2%	none	10.5%

The match is one third of what you contribute, up to 2% of eligible pay, which means you must defer at least 6% to capture the full match. Employer contributions begin after your one-year anniversary. The recordkeeper is Transamerica.

Vesting on employer contributions is graded: nothing below two years, then 20% at two, 40% at three, 60% at four, 80% at five, and 100% at six. Your own contributions are always fully vested. You also become fully vested on death, disability, or reaching age 65 while employed.

If you came from an acquired hospital

The Northwell Health Pension Plan carries provisions for participants from predecessor hospital plans, among them North Shore, Long Island Jewish, Glen Cove, Central General, Forest Hills, Syosset, Southside, Lenox Hill, Doctors’ Hospital of Staten Island, Huntington, Northern Westchester, The Long Island Home, Central Suffolk (Peconic Bay) and John T. Mather.

Their terms appear inside the plan as named participant classes and appendices, so a legacy benefit is administered under the Northwell Health Pension Plan, not under the old plan’s name.

Early retirement and normal retirement ages differ by participant class, and the plan document sets each class’s terms.

One legacy item on the savings side: the 403(b) plan document refers to balances invested with SunAmerica Annuity and Life Assurance Company and Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company, and says that where a participant has been issued an annuity contract, the distribution provisions of that contract control for that portion. If you have been with Northwell a long time, ask whether any of your balance sits in one.

The newer pension option

Effective July 1, 2025, Northwell introduced a new defined benefit option for non-union team members in benefit groups 3 and 4, plus non-management, non-union CRNAs, midwives, nurse practitioners, perfusionists and physician assistants, after one year of employment. Northwell notes that some changes in employment status may change eligibility.

The formula is ten-year average eligible earnings multiplied by years of credited service multiplied by 1.6%. Northwell describes it as 100% employer funded and backed by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, with an unreduced benefit at age 62 with 20 years of service.

Northwell presents this as a choice between the new pension benefit and the existing Northwell retirement plans, and runs a Retirement Choice Support Center for it. The pension plan amendments posted in July 2026 are scanned images, and the readable documents do not say whether the election is one-time or irrevocable, or precisely what defined contribution benefit is given up. Ask that question directly and get the answer in writing before electing.