1) What do you like about working at a FQHC?
The things I like the best are that I work 4 days a week, have full benefits, no management headaches. I also really love being such a vital resource for so many patients who do not have private insurance or any insurance, with so few providers accepting Medicaid.
2) What do you dislike about working at a FQHC?
While I do use quality materials, I don't have, say, a soft tissue laser, nor am I likely to see a CEREC or something like that any time soon (although my CEO is open to the idea if it makes financial sense). Basically, we do bread and butter stuff and nothing overly fancy, which is limiting sometimes. I also wish I had a bit more leeway with my schedule in the sense that I can't get any time off without way advance notice, which makes my kids' school activities difficult to attend.
3) What is your scope of practice (and how many of each procedure do you do daily, on average)?
We are a general dentistry office. We see all ages and do pretty much anything but major OS or implant placement. We don't do general anesthesia so we are limited in treatment of young children.
My day generally sees a bunch of fillings and extractions, with a crown and/or RCT thrown in. I do plenty of dentures and there are always emergency patients who need to be seen. We also have 3 hygienists, so there are hygiene exams throughout the day.
4) How many patients do you see each day/how many ops do you work out of at the same time?
I work out of a main column with a side book column for minor procedures/exams. Due to staffing issues, we have blocked the second column for today and the near future. Today I have 12 patients in my schedule, not including hygiene exams. This is about average for me. Some days might get up to 20-22 including hygiene. Right now I have 3 operatories that are "mine." Typically I do not have more than one patient in a chair unless it is a minor procedure or limited exam. This was not the case in corporate, where I could have 6 patients seated at one time
Today I have 5 exts, 3 fillings, 1 crown, 1 exam, 2 denture steps.
5) How did you find your position?
Someone in the class above me got hired here before she graduated and told me about it and I kept pestering about it.
6) FQHCs tend to advertise loan repayment as a major benefit- Is loan repayment drying up, in your opinion?
I honestly have no idea if it is drying up, but I do know that my state made the requirements for getting LRP a bit stricter (2 years commitment instead of 1, for example).
7) What compensation range can a PGY-1 trained dentist expect in his first year at an FQHC? How about 5-10 years in?
Salary is obviously affected by a lot of factors, but I would expect somewhere between 125-150k to start. My contract, for example, has a guaranteed amount for the first year, and then after that it is a percentage of production (based on an RVU figure for the procedure, not actual collections or billings). It is not impossible to make in excess of 200 or even 300k depending on your output and contract terms. The upper classwoman who got me the job here was making over 300k at one point, I was told.
8) Do you have any interest in going into private practice, or do you plan to stick with FQHCs?
For the foreseeable future, I'm going to stay in PH. There is a local dentist whom I have befriended who is ready to retire and really wants me to take over his practice, but I don't think I want the headaches right now.
1) What did you like about corporate? What did you dislike?
I liked the people I worked with. I liked having full benefits. I liked that I learned a lot and got faster. I disliked the long hours, weekends (once or twice a month), inflexibility of schedule, limited vacation time, very busy patient schedule, patient complaints, corporate BS.
2) Would you recommend corporate for building up speed?
In my case, I was at the FQHC for a year right out of school and I built up my speed after about 6 months. I had a fair amount of autonomy and got to figure out how I liked to do dentistry. Corporate kicked everything into high gear. I had to learn how to work out of 3-6 operatories at a time, had to learn time management, had to learn to make quick decisions while still upholding my ethical values. I personally do not think that anyone should go into corporate straight out of dental school. Maybe out of GPR, but not fresh out of school. Corporate is really not a nurturing environment for a baby dentist, but for someone with some experience, it can take you to another level.
