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7on 7 off and private practice q's
Started by Thruster
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A hospital in our area has about a third of their inpatient beds staffed on a 7/7 model.
I suppose one can institute any schedule one wants in private outpatient practice, though the question would be who covers patient needs (urgent or trivial) during your weeks off?
I've seen something similar for hospitalist C/L folks, though usually more of a 2wks on/2wks off.
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Each clinical situation will offer different types of work settings.
Private practice, for example, makes more money per hour, you have more power to arrange the hours the way you want, but at least from my experience, it's much more labor-intensive, more emotionally burdensome, and you bear the brunt more from needy patients.
Hospitals, unless they're locums, will likely demand you work very structured hours.
The only thing I'd say against private practice other than the above is that many residents aren't quite used to it and don't know what they're getting into until they've actually done it. Most doctors I know their studied field but don't understand running a business. Medical school success is measured by multiple choice, not by your business acumen. Personally, I'd recommend against private practice until one has 1-2 years post residency experience under their belt and have taken some time to learn psychotherapy for real.
The other thing is that with the new changes in government healthcare, I can see several potential differences in reimbursement. How this will play out in real life I do not know given that you can read the policies all you want but how the gov acts maybe a completely separate reality. E.g. some insurance companies drive staff members up the wall when trying to get reimbursement even though their policy is almost the same as another place that is more cooperative.
Given the gov's track record with medicaire and medicaid, I'm anticipating gov healthcare to actually be a big pain in the butt to private practitioners that accept it. We'll only really be able to tell after it happens, but as most of us know, there are horror stories with reimbursement and the government, so I see no reason why another gov entity will be different.
Private practice, for example, makes more money per hour, you have more power to arrange the hours the way you want, but at least from my experience, it's much more labor-intensive, more emotionally burdensome, and you bear the brunt more from needy patients.
Hospitals, unless they're locums, will likely demand you work very structured hours.
The only thing I'd say against private practice other than the above is that many residents aren't quite used to it and don't know what they're getting into until they've actually done it. Most doctors I know their studied field but don't understand running a business. Medical school success is measured by multiple choice, not by your business acumen. Personally, I'd recommend against private practice until one has 1-2 years post residency experience under their belt and have taken some time to learn psychotherapy for real.
The other thing is that with the new changes in government healthcare, I can see several potential differences in reimbursement. How this will play out in real life I do not know given that you can read the policies all you want but how the gov acts maybe a completely separate reality. E.g. some insurance companies drive staff members up the wall when trying to get reimbursement even though their policy is almost the same as another place that is more cooperative.
Given the gov's track record with medicaire and medicaid, I'm anticipating gov healthcare to actually be a big pain in the butt to private practitioners that accept it. We'll only really be able to tell after it happens, but as most of us know, there are horror stories with reimbursement and the government, so I see no reason why another gov entity will be different.
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This may vary by the state, but honestly I've had FAR more headaches from the private sector this year--Humana and BCBS-Anthem in particular.
so basically, it will be more difficult to run a private practice(solo or small group) with the same level of success due to the way that gov't and insurance will reimburse in the future?
Is there a way around these issues aside from trying to recruit cash only patients, which might be quite a tall order in itself?
Is there a way around these issues aside from trying to recruit cash only patients, which might be quite a tall order in itself?
We really honestly don't know how it will play out until it happens. Like I said, read the policies as much as you want, the reality often doesn't match what's on paper. I've had situations with private insurance and gov reimbursement where the person is clearly meeting criteria for treatment and reimbursement they still drive staff members up the wall and start making comments such as "this patient is not suicidal" even though the patient clearly is and attempted suicide the same day.
True true true. In fact it's possible that gov reimbursement may actually help in some ways not yet seen. We'll just have to wait and hope for the best.
True true true. In fact it's possible that gov reimbursement may actually help in some ways not yet seen. We'll just have to wait and hope for the best.
