<p>EXCLUDE EMERGENCY MEDICINE EVERYONE (hahaha)
my view on private practice is that its really risky
its like running your own buisness, i could only imagine that its really hard to get started and hard to maintain......but if you can market yourself well and get a lot of patients...then it could be a very profitable cause</p>
<p>Family of MD's here,
1. Plastic Surgery want private paying hollywood types<br>
2.Anesthesiology two most profitable but malpractice is very high
3. Ortho
Listening to my relatives speaking about medicine these days, it is almost impossible to survive solo.Malprac Insurnce costs are VERY high/reimbursement rates not very good. My uncle says he has to see a patient every 15 minutes to make the same money he did seeing 1/2 the amount 10 years ago. </p>
<p>Salary wise, I don't know for sure. I do know ob/gyn mal practice insurance is 130,000 in NY a year. ALOT of babies to deliver just to cover that cost alone, most insurance companies only reimburse for less than 3,000 per patient. My mom gave up OB part because of that reason, couldn't do it any longer. </p>
<p>Honestly, if your going into medicine to make $$$, think you should ask an intern or resident how to survive on a little over 30K a year for quite awhile before the money comes in. It isn't all about money going into medicine.</p>
<p>There are private practice emergency medicine physicians. Unlike dermatology, plastic surgery, and internal medicine who may their own practice for themselves, EM and gas private practice people usually work in groups (examples below).</p>
<p>It seems like plastic surgeons would escape the high insurance costs. Insurance companies won't pay for someone to get a facelift.</p>
<p>I'm shadowing a solo private practice plastic surgeon right now. Granted, he didn't start solo, the other two people that were there retired. By the way, he's very well off.</p>
<p>Here's a scanario I would like to point out</p>
<p>An Ophthamologist who is specialized as a refractive srugeon decides to open his own practice, and calls it " Rick Lasik Center since Rick happens to be his name. He charges between $1,500-$2,500 depending on which package one purchases or prefers. * (Note he models actual Lasik packages from other centers)* Now, say he recieves 30 patients every month. If he charges between $1,500-$2,500 with 30 patients, he could potentially make between $45,000- $75,000 per month!! Thats between $540,000- $900,000 annualy. * Note he may have more patients in one month than compared to others. Compared to the the annual salary for ophthalmologists ranging from $218,264 to $414,228, private practice opthalmologists would be making nearly double the amount.</p>
<p>Though we have to consider the business goes well. To average approximately 30 patients a month is quite evident that it's going well. However, that may not be the case one year but could be the next year. Afterall, business is " very" risky!</p>
<p>And This may not apply to all specialities, so it really depends on which speciality you choose to practice privately. I think surgeons could make a lot this way, whether its cardiac,thorac, etc you name it!!</p>
<p>My dermatologist has a sweet practice. Lots of cosmetic procedures that do not carry high risk and people pay out of pocket for them. I actually think it is a racket!</p>
<p>What does this mean?
"plastic surgeons would escape the high insurance costs"</p>
<p>malpractice or health insurance?</p>
<p>Look up average percent in overhead and cost of malpractice. Don't forget self-employment tax, retirement costs, and medical insurance for you and your employees. And disability. No time to look it up for you; I've got a practice to run....</p>
<p>To be honest, i don't know much about health care and insurance and all that. I do know that someone dumped $10,000 cash on the surgeon's desk. My assumption is that when an insurance company pays for a procedure (which usually won't happen in plastics), the surgeon gets less money.</p>
<p>btw, if someone knows the system, please explain because i need to learn about this stuff at some point ;-)</p>
<p>"btw, if someone knows the system, please explain because i need to learn about this stuff at some point '</p>
<p>That would be a really good thing to get out of the "shadowing", but you might have to "shadow" the office manager. Ask what percentage of gross goes to overhead.I suppose knowing this might be helpful at each stage of the journey, but a lot can change in the 7-10 years between graduating college and starting a practice.</p>
<p>I took your advice and asked the surgeon about insurance.</p>
<p>He is a COSMETIC surgeon, not a reconstructive surgeon. Therefore, insurance companies will not cover the majority of his procedures. So, if he feels that for a particular surgery, that he is worth say, $10,000, then that is what the patient has to pay. No ifs, ands, or buts.</p>
<p>If a third party insurance were to become involved for a certain case, then they would most likely reimburse the surgeon $1000 or so for a procedure that may actually be worth $15,000.</p>
<p>So the lesson is, become a cosmetic surgeon.</p>
<p>Ask about his malpractice premium. This is what he must pay each year so that someone besides him is financially responsible if someone takes him to court, or worse yet, wins a suit. As noted above, an obstetrician pays $130,000 per year, and in some places, NO ONE will deliver babies because of the malpractice risk/premium.This is just one part of "overhead", which is %60-65 for a primary care doctor, whose malpractice is likely a lot less.Also keep in mind that the location for such a practice is key, and likely includes a really high cost of living, a lot of competition, and some pretty vigorous "marketing" to get your foot in the door. The ONLY doctors you are likely to see advertise are dentists and dermatologists (not sure about cosmetic surgeons). I'm not sure if I should tell you this, but Psychiatry is another specialty which lends itself to a "cash only" practice, but you really have to be okay with what sometimes feels like prostituting yourself ( saying what people want to hear, selling what people want to buy) for it to be maximally "lucrative". Could be some ethical dillemas if your prone to that kind of things.</p>
<p>Just before i say anything, i'm definitely not in this for the money, and have certainly not decided on going into plastics or anything...in case that was the impression i was giving :-D</p>
<p>In his little lecture he gave me about business in medicine, the doc. told me that on average, overhead accounts for about 40-45% for a cosmetic surgeon. However, i'm not sure what percentage of that is specifically malpractice premium. As for advertising, he definitely markets himself. I see him in magazines/newspapers all the time as "Baltimore's top doc!" Its pretty entertaining actually. Just to give you a more tangible idea in terms of money:
gross income- 800k - 1.1 million
after overhead- 500k-600k</p>
<p>Those are just some average figures that he gave me. However, those numbers are only going to be true for someone with a well-established business</p>
<p>Plastics is a brutal residency to obtain. Do not enter medical school with that as your sole intention.</p>
<p>It is also not reasonable to point out any single opthalmologist and use his income as a standard -- particularly when you are making up numbers to fill in the blanks -- while ignoring national mean information. That's like using lottery winners to decide whether that's a reasonable game to play.</p>
<p>So what exactly is "Malpractice?" Can anyone define it in med terms???!! Also, why do ppl associate Malpractice with private practice doctors????..
In addition, why do private practive docs have high insurance rates?? Finally, if one's gross is say 900k , how in the world does his net pay be 600-800k??? that doesn't make sense... I mean okay, he might be paying up to 20000 for insurance, but why does it drop 300k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats a lot $$$...lol</p>