Malpractice premium for doing EMG's

[painfre]

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I do Pain procedures in a Veteran Hospital. I finish around 4 pm daily. I am planning to do some EMG's in the evenings 4-6 pm after I finish my regular work in the hospital.
I need your advice regarding starting EMG practice. I am thinking of buying a portable EMG machine which I can take in my car and do emgs in the other pain physician's office. How much money does it cost to start a practice doing only EMG's. Can I pay malpractice based on the hours per week if I work outside my regular job.
I am planning to rent other Pain Physician's offices for doing my EMG's.
Thanks for your thoughts .

 

[RUOkie]

Does the VA pay for your med mal?

If yes, you will need to get another malpractice carrier in your state to cover you. If you are just doing EMGs, you would probably be a 1a coverage which in most states is not so expensive. If you are an interventionalist however, they may rate you higher because of the other procedures that you do. (sometimes 2b or 2c).

A decent EMG machine is 20K new, less if used. (plus or minus a few thousand, depending on brand and bells/whistles)

Then you have to pay rent and someone to do your billing/collections.

 

[PMR 4 MSK]

Malpractice should be inexpensive. Portable EMG (get the Sierra Wave - best on the market) around $16K.

The trouble will be getting the referrals. You will be renting space, what about assistance? Are they going to check your patients in? Who will do billing and collections?

Billing is straight forward, but you need to make sure patients are verified to have EMG benefits and get any neccesary preauthorization

 

[painfre]

I do not have to pay any Malpractice insurance for working at VA.
Which insurance do you suggest to have for doing EMG's part time. Not planning to do any pain procedures at this time.
I am considering to buy an used cadwell EMG laptop. Where should i look for ?
Can I do do billing my self ? do I need to hire any staff for help ?
I am not sure if I get enough referrals or not. I just want to give a try and experience practice outside VA.

Thanks

 

[PMR 4 MSK]

To get on most insurances you need to have malpractice. Contact your state board if you have trouble finding insurance companies, they may be able to help.

To bill you need to be able to do it electronically. You can get one of many prgrams and do it yourself, but you'll need to be trained. Consider hiring a company to do it for you at first, at least. You could probably get a contract for 5% or less of collections.

To get referrals, market yourself. Go out and meet potential referrers in their office, bring literature. Shake hands.