Production Bonus for Neorology

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Just completing Neurophysiology fellowship and I am currently in the look out for a group practice job. I am looking to do General Neuro + some EMGs and EEGs.

For salary + production bonus jobs, what is the normal production bonus %s (either as a percentage of gross or collected revenue)? If I am offered a total (base salary + production bonus) that amounts to 30% of the gross collection, is that a reasonably good package in a 1:4 call setting (there are 3 other physicians in the group)? I am in the Mid West where reimbursements are supposed to be better.

Thanks in advance for your comments!

Could some one please weigh in? Thanks!

You're going to have to wait at least a day or two for our private practice folks to have a chance to reply.

Could some of the pvt practice people please respond? Thanks in advance!

Most private practice jobs are fairly unique and it's virtually impossible to compare one to another by simply looking at the reimbursement package. The model I've seen with most groups is to hire on a new neurologist as a salaried physician with modest production bonus for the first 2-3 years, then offer them the chance to become partner. Sometimes this involves a buy in, sometimes not. Once you're partner, it's pretty much eat what you kill, i.e. you take home what you bill for minus the overhead for the practice. This would usually involve a ~25% increase in salary compared to what you were making as a salaried physician but not necessarily. Talking numbers like 30% production bonus doesn't really mean anything if you don't know the patient mix and other details of the practice. You should ask to see a breakdown of the financials for the practice and then take it to an accountant to make sure it adds up and the group is financially sound.

The more important questions are how well you see yourself getting along with other members of the practice. Do they divide responsibilities / reimbursement / patient mix equitably? I've heard horror stories of new grads joining a practice and sometimes even buying in significantly only to find that all of the chronic pain and headache patients without insurance are shunted to them. Their production bonus is wiped out due to the poor patient mix, and more importantly, they're unhappy.

Contracts vary greatly. But that being said, typically you would have a base salary. Then, any collections over that amount would be subject to overhead and then a percentage taken out for administrative fees to recapture start-up fees for the practice.
A range of 15% the first year and 10% the second year are reasonable.

Don't forget, typically you will see NO collections for the first 2-3 months after starting to work. The reason for this is multi-factorial, but you will also have to get on all of the various insurance panels. This can sometimes take up to a year!

Sorry I can't really answer your question, instead i have one of my own. Applying to neurophys fellowships now. How did you figure out what programs were good?