Another look a Family Practice Medicine

[happyone]

This if from Sunday D-News. I just got around to reading it last night.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...-Practice.html

It doesn't look promising to have an independant family practice

[Jarid in Cedar]

I read that article. While I see the struggles that they are talking about, I don't see the same problems. I started a solo practice in 2002 and added a partner in 2006 and another in 2007. I started the practice with a scarcity model to begin with. I tried to view what overhead would be created by every opportunity to make money that was available. This helped lower the hassle factor. I think that the problem that most small/solo practices run into is that they try to grow too much, they can't say no to anyone/any idea. I would constantly ask, "If I take on this new project, I will see an increase of 10% in salary, conversely, It will increase overhead 15% and cost me 8 more hours a week to do." I subsquently said no to many ideas that could make "more money". The medical Spas that are mentioned in the article are quite a fad, but I bet the success ratio is 1:10 or less. She has burdened herself with overhead that is barely paying for itself and consumes a portion of her time for no reimbursement.

[Mormon Red Death]

This if from Sunday D-News. I just got around to reading it last night.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...-Practice.html

It doesn't look promising to have an independant family practice

All a Family practitioner needs to do to make money is set up shop and then have most of the care done by Phys Assistants or Nurse Practicioners. Pay them 80k a year and bill at least 65 a visit. 1800 visits a year garners 40k in profit for each NP or PA.

[statman]

All a Family practitioner needs to do to make money is set up shop and then have most of the care done by Phys Assistants or Nurse Practicioners. Pay them 80k a year and bill at least 65 a visit. 1800 visits a year garners 40k in profit for each NP or PA.

That's less than one an hour (8 hour work day). Tell the slackers to get off their butts and work for the $80K. 6 patients an hour at $65 a visit is $811.2K per year billed. (6 an hour, 8 hours a day, $65 per visit X 260 days per year) Subtract for 4 weeks paid vacation and add 50% to the costs for benefits, and that's down to $748K billed and $120K in total comp, netting in $628K contribution by one PA...

[bluegoose]

All a Family practitioner needs to do to make money is set up shop and then have most of the care done by Phys Assistants or Nurse Practicioners. Pay them 80k a year and bill at least 65 a visit. 1800 visits a year garners 40k in profit for each NP or PA.

As I understand it, Medicare re-imbursement, which makes up the bulk of most practitioners case load, is FAR less than $65 per visit. I think it is closer to $35 per visit in our area. And that is for an MD or DO. A mid level is re-imbursed even less than that.

If you figure a busy family practice is doing 4 patients an hour, that makes something along the lines of $140 per hour. Salaries, overhead, insurance, and everything else involved in running a practice, and you don't have a whole lot left over at the end of the day.

[bluegoose]

The medical Spas that are mentioned in the article are quite a fad, but I bet the success ratio is 1:10 or less. She has burdened herself with overhead that is barely paying for itself and consumes a portion of her time for no reimbursement.

The big fad in our area has recently shifted from vein care to medical weight loss programs. Several years ago there were a bunch of offices marketing heavily for spider and varicose vein procedures. These ads have all but disappeared, with only one of the bigger clinics in town still actively advertising this service. They are still doing very well, btw, while the others have faded considerably.

Now there are several MDs in town who are marketing just as aggressively their weight loss programs, including their special line of diet foods. They seem to be doing fairly well. I spoke with a friend today with some inside info into some of these offices and he indicated that without their weight loss programs, they would likely be shuttering their offices.

[statman]

My GP's office was on the phone drumming up business today. He's going to be limiting the supply of Ambien he gives me from 4 months to 3 months per script - and won't be refilling scripts over the phone, which he did a bunch of times last year. That's 4 visits a year instead of probably only 2. Although I'm not out of Ambien yet, I'm going to go see him tomorrow to get the doctor's visit in before the end of the year. We've already hit our family out of pocket max, so the visit will be free prior to the end of the year. I'll be back to see him in March...

[Mormon Red Death]

As I understand it, Medicare re-imbursement, which makes up the bulk of most practitioners case load, is FAR less than $65 per visit. I think it is closer to $35 per visit in our area. And that is for an MD or DO. A mid level is re-imbursed even less than that.

If you figure a busy family practice is doing 4 patients an hour, that makes something along the lines of $140 per hour. Salaries, overhead, insurance, and everything else involved in running a practice, and you don't have a whole lot left over at the end of the day.

$65 is pretty much the lowest it will go for a normal office visit and that is without any tests being run which a normal family doctor does plenty. NP and PA get the same reimbursement as Drs. do.