measuring lung functiion as an FP

[reedman]

is it common for a family doc to do things like spirometry in office? also, do most docs have an xray machine in the office for doing chest films?

thanks

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[deleted87716]

Spirometry is common, and inexpensive.

X-Ray, OTOH, is likely to be a break-even proposition at best. Been there, done that. Don't miss it a bit.

 

[EdibleEgg]

Agreed. Spirometry is pretty common. X-ray not so much. In my neck of the woods a few of the older guys have in office xray, but most have cleared up the space because of the cost. I don't know of a single "young" group with in office facilities. However, just like everything else in family medicine, it's extremely variable. I interviewed with group of 20 FP's that had in office US/MRI/CT/mammo. You really have to have some volume to make those numbers work though.

 

[deleted87716]

I interviewed with group of 20 FP's that had in office US/MRI/CT/mammo. You really have to have some volume to make those numbers work though.

Our multispecialty group, which is mostly primary care, has ancillaries consisting of lab, XR, CT, US, mammography, and MRI. It's housed in a separate shared facility, so it's not technically "in office."

I used to be in a six-doctor practice, and we had in-office XR when I started there. We eventually shut it down, as the continually increasing costs of maintaining the equipment and paying the tech ultimately failed to offset the ever-decreasing reimbursement for plain films and the need to pay a radiologist for over-reads in order to appease our malpractice insurer.