Latest on OMT practices?

[lots-o-questions]

Hey all! In threads past there have been a number of anecdotal reports of NMM/OMT docs with cash only practices making huge money (vaguely remembering someone form 2014-ish saying they new a guy in LA charging $400 an hour). Curious to hear if anyone can comment on the current market. While I don't plan of doing OMT only I defiantly want to incorporate as part of my practice (to that end not sure/ likely wont be cash only either). I know in med school our OMT guru charged about $250 in his part time side gig.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[hallowmann]

Hey all! In threads past there have been a number of anecdotal reports of NMM/OMT docs with cash only practices making huge money (vaguely remembering someone form 2014-ish saying they new a guy in LA charging $400 an hour). Curious to hear if anyone can comment on the current market. While I don't plan of doing OMT only I defiantly want to incorporate as part of my practice (to that end not sure/ likely wont be cash only either). I know in med school our OMT guru charged about $250 in his part time side gig.

You certainly can incorporate it into your clinic and if you document appropriately, you can also utilize the OMT procedural billing add-ons for your visits. Whether and how much insurance pays for those things and how much they correlate to in RVUs or wRVUs overall will vary. They will not be reimbursed anywhere close to what people charge for "cash-only" OMT, but I don't think many find that model inspiring or in some cases ethical.

You can find more specific info of incorporating it into practice here: Osteopathic Billing & Coding - American Osteopathic Association

 

[Mitch Connor]

Hey all! In threads past there have been a number of anecdotal reports of NMM/OMT docs with cash only practices making huge money (vaguely remembering someone form 2014-ish saying they new a guy in LA charging $400 an hour). Curious to hear if anyone can comment on the current market. While I don't plan of doing OMT only I defiantly want to incorporate as part of my practice (to that end not sure/ likely wont be cash only either). I know in med school our OMT guru charged about $250 in his part time side gig.

I don't have much to add as an OMS2, but I talked about this briefly with an OMM specialist I ran into a while back. He was was FM boarded but is now only NMM boarded and only takes referral patients the majority of which are through insurance. A busy day for him was 16 patients at the max. He said he pulls in 90k per quarter or 360k per year. Not sure if that was before or after tax. He also mentioned that you can make anywhere from 250-450k working with insurance depending on how you document and how hard you want to work. Some people seem to make great careers but they are few and far between.

 

[nexus73]

As a student many years ago I rotated through an OMT only clinic in Portland, OR called Osteopathic Advantage that billed insurance and as I recall they would see patients for upwards of an hour appointment. It was a very laid back job. I'd be curious to know what codes get used and RVUs (or insurance reimbursements) for common OMT codes. In the old days docs would get paid based on how many areas of the body treated (1-2 was one rate, 3-4 another, 5-6 another, and I think 7+ was highest). Not sure if this has changed. It seemed like it would be fairly easy to incorporate this into a FM practice. Patient presents with musculoskeletal pain, eg back pain. You do soft tissue techniqe or counter strain, etc. Patient feels better, doctor gets paid better. Back in the day of pain is the 5th vital sign and opioids being given to everyone it seemed crazy docs weren't utilizing more OMT to treat basic MSK pain symptoms.

 

[medhead1990]

I did a little googling and found a few cash practices with an average of about 250-300 per hour.

From the billing perspective it looks like the range is up to 3 areas is about 20 bucks and over 9 areas is $100ish. So if you add $20 for half of your patients a day doing things here and there you could prob add $200ish a day Which defiantly add up quickly. (Think 250 working days *$200 a day= extra 50k a year for an extra 1 or 2 min per pt).

I think overall it seems reasonable to integrate it when appropriate. Will you cure cancer prob not? Will you will have happy patients and a little more cash flow yeah probably.