Locum tenens EMG/NCS part time GIG- what should I look for ?

[Karying14]

Hi,
I am a recent residency graduate and have been offered a part time 2 day a week emg/ncs job. Going to 2 or 3 offices, doing electrodiagnostic testing. Told will see on average 10-15 patients for emg/ day over 7-8 hours. Maximum is 16. There will be a EMG tech working with me. And I will be paid 1200 per day.
I wanted to ask if anyone else has experience doing this type of part time electrodiagnostic job? And what should I look for in the contract and the set-up? In terms of who does the billing, and so on. I will be paying my own malpractice.
It's 2 days a week at 1200 per day, so 2400 per week. So I plan on finding another part time position-2 to 3 days a week to supplement this.

Any pros and cons of doing part time work or 2 part time positions as opposed to a full time position? Input is appreciated.

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[PMR2008]

Wow that is extremely high volume for extremely low pay. I have a friend who just graduated and he is doing emgs 3 days a week. He has a portable emg machine. He visits a podiatrist and a few internist who let him rent a room. He does 6-7 emgs a day without a tech. Usually takes him 4-5 hours including writing the reports and billing. He has no overhead and does all his billing and coding. The podiatrist and internist are happy as he is in house and he writes nice reports. He easily bills for 2000-2500 a day and probably takes home 1800 and his is all in a saturated city like Chicago.

 

[lobelsteve]

Paging Dr. Stark.

 

[SSdoc33]

16 emgs in a day is pretty silly. if you get the same amount for doing 16 emg/day as you do for doing 8, why would they not just always book 16?

there are always negatives, but if you like the job and it fits what you are looking for, more power to you.

 

[Jitter Bug]

The wage is decent, but volume could be high. The EMG tech will save you time only if they are good. Otherwise you will end up sending them back in later to do more nerves. 30 minutes per patient is fine but some patients can't pull it together to get anything done quickly (ie elderly, panicky, or with poor mobility) Find out what the last doc in your job is doing now and what he/she thought of this gig, and what kind of studies come in.

Since you are being paid a flat daily wage and have no benefits, you should be hired as an independent contractor, and have them take care of their own scheduling, staffing and billing. Make sure you know how to get out of this job if you don't like it. (ie how much notice you have to give before quitting without cause). Find out what is the minimum required for you to get paid. Make sure they can't send you home without pay if only 2 people show up, or drop you to 1 day a week if volumes stay low in a few months.

The only downside of one part time job is now you have to find another part time job. But it could definitely work if you find 2 PT jobs that you find really interesting.

 

[RUOkie]

32 EMG/wk!!!

Whomever is paying you only 2400/wk for that is ripping you off. End of story. 32X$400per (conservative)= $12,800/wk in COLLECTIONS!

And you pay your own expenses!

 

[PMR 4 MSK]

The money in EMGs is in the NCS - 60 - 90% of the total bill.

I don't use a tech for 2 reasons - I've never found one as good as I am, and I would rather get paid for doing the NCSs.

$1200/d for 16 needle exams = $75 per exam - you are being robbed.

Do it all yourself and you will make waaaaaayyyyy more than this. You just need to secure the contracts and do it legally.

 

[Finally M3]

32 EMG/wk!!!

Whomever is paying you only 2400/wk for that is ripping you off. End of story. 32X$400per (conservative)= $12,800/wk in COLLECTIONS!

And you pay your own expenses!

good lord that is a lot of emgs.

$1200 day ...you can do better OP. Someone is collecting 4-5 times that a day.

 

[RUOkie]

good lord that is a lot of emgs.

$1200 day ...you can do better OP. Someone is collecting 4-5 times that a day.

if I were doing that many studies, I would buy a bigger boat.

(actually I'd buy a BMW M3 and a new Time trial bike)

 

[Finally M3]

if I were doing that many studies, I would buy a bigger boat.

(actually I'd buy a BMW M3 and a new Time trial bike)

Heh. I would put it towards the 'Retire before 60' fund.