Hourly Rates for Psychiatric Independent Contracting

[pike73]

I've seen different salary ranges for psychiatrists (full-time employees) but was wondering if anyone had any hourly wage ranges to better evaluate working as an independent contractor in psychiatry. Thanks.

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[whopper]

A lot of this is going to depend on the locality. In some areas they will pay much more or less depending on your quality and the availability of psychiatrists.

 

[dl2dp2]

I've seen different salary ranges for psychiatrists (full-time employees) but was wondering if anyone had any hourly wage ranges to better evaluate working as an independent contractor in psychiatry. Thanks.

What you can also do is to just call people in the phone book and ask for their rates.

 

[Manicsleep]

You really want to be more precise on location, type of job, specialty etc.
There is a lot of variability out there.

 

[pike73]

You really want to be more precise on location, type of job, specialty etc.
There is a lot of variability out there.

I was offered a general psychiatry independent contracting position either inpatient or outpatient in Philadelphia for approximately 20 hours per week. They had offered $90-$110 per hour with no benefits. I want to be fair but also get the best deal. Does anyone have input or experience? Thanks.

 

[Sneezing]

I was offered a general psychiatry independent contracting position either inpatient or outpatient in Philadelphia for approximately 20 hours per week. They had offered $90-$110 per hour with no benefits. I want to be fair but also get the best deal. Does anyone have input or experience? Thanks.

I have no personal experience at my current level. However, programs I had interviewed at for residency a year ago would mention moonlighting gigs from $65-100 an hour. I wouldn't do it for less than $70 as a resident, personally (mind you, there are attendings moonlighting at this rate in my area, too). If you cruise the internet for listed rates on websites of various psychiatrists you'll find anywhere from $150-300 an hour. This was for outpatient and more commonly from I can see broken down into differrent rates for first visit, followups, etc. These are my observations so far. Mind you, they'll need their cut for billing, office space, garbage, and in general overhead so you won't be making the optimum hourly rate.

To give you food for thought the NP who frequents this board is charging cash:
$300 for intake
$180 for 1 hour
$125 for 30 minutes


I took these rates from this website: http://www.avalonpsychiatry.com/info.html
Initial psychiatric evaluation (~60 - 90 minutes) $250
Medication management (~20 minutes) $110
Medication with counseling (~30 minutes) $125
Medical psychotherapy (~ 50 minutes) $155
Group therapies (~75 minutes) $100 per patient
Requests for letters, reports, records review and phone consultation are charged according to time and complexity.

I know my residency program charges something like ~$400 to insurance companies for an intake, but gets less based on contractual agreements.

So the real question is, how much are they really billing/collecting and how much profit should they get minus overhead?

 

[nitemagi]

Contract work I've found hovers around the $80-115 range here in southern california, though can go to $150 in areas of higher need. Private practice is obviously much higher, since it's before subtracting your overhead and institutional profit. Hourly rates in private practice often go into the $2-300/hr range. But as a resident most are just looking for some extra moonlighting money, and $100/hr feels like a lot.

 

[digitlnoize]

Contract$100/hr feels like a lot.

It IS a lot. I used to make $12.50/hr before I went back to school. My wife currently makes $35/hr cleaning teeth. $100/hr is a crapload. Of course, I'd rather have $200-300/hr like everyone else 😀

Most of the going rates I've heard are in the 180-220/hr range for PP give or take. Medicare med checks around here go for around $65-70, so if you're doing 3 of those per hour, you're still talking 180-210.

 

[Manicsleep]

100/hr for 20 hours per week is not bad but not that great either.
At 40 hours a week thats a 200k salary with 2 weeks vacation.

Pros:
Flexibility. You can leave whenever you want.
Free time: You can start a practice on the side while having a steady income for the first few months.
Introduction: You get to see their style of practice and they get to see you. Then you can negotiate for higher rates, a permanent job, use this info in your practice and network.

Cons:
Its not 40 hours a week.
No insurance, malpractice, pension and all those other benefits that come with a regular job.
No job security: They can ask you to take a hike at the end of your term and technically even earlier.
They can be pretty demanding if they want (otherwise they give you a bad reference for your next job).
You may hate the job and there is probably a reason that nobody wants that job.

The reason its a 100/hr is because the agency thats placing you is getting a big cut.

 

[Fermata]

I could see such a setup being appealing down the rode if you choose to slip into pseudo-retirement. Otherwise, being salaried or throwing out your own shingle makes far more sense.

 

[michaelrack]

If you are an attending providing your own malprac ins, I would recommend insisting on at least $110 per hour.

To the OP: what is your psych certification status?