Non-Wizzie/Implant OMFS Compensation

[54807]

It's pretty simple to figure out how much the OMFS make that place implants/pull wisdom teeth.

How much are average hospital OMFS making? Both in academics and non-academic locations.

Any way possible to live off of just trauma and orthognathics in a hospital environment? If that compensation is truely so low income could be supplemented with private practice T&T i suppose? How do the full-time hospital surgeons do this? I would think there are clauses in their contracts with the hospitals preventing this.

How is on-call for facial, isolated-mandible, mid-face, etc compensated? Straight fee like the neuro, trauma, orthopedic surgeons? I would think OMFS would be much less likely to get trauma call payment. What about when you're called in...you're a contractor essentially, correct? Who is paying for the plating? Hospital right? I could see some OMFS getting screwed and their office getting billed for the hardware.

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[LSU-Cowboy]

Many OMFS's do trauma and orthognathics when they get out to get their names into the community and to get referrals, eventhough the compensation is low and sometimes even none. It's hard to limit your practice to just T&T from the start because no one really knows you...over time most guys limit their practice to higher compensating procedures and some don't (they like the mix). Generally speaking, orthognathics and trauma reimburse very low....NC is one of the states that has a decent reimbursement for orthognathics....LA and FL are terrible...

 

[InMyCrossHairs]

How is on-call for facial, isolated-mandible, mid-face, etc compensated? Straight fee like the neuro, trauma, orthopedic surgeons? I would think OMFS would be much less likely to get trauma call payment.

It depends on where you are, but most OMFS get some sort of compensation for taking face call. Some places will give you a flat fee for every day you take call plus what you are able to bill.

 

[54807]

It depends on where you are, but most OMFS get some sort of compensation for taking face call. Some places will give you a flat fee for every day you take call plus what you are able to bill.

What is a typical fee? I realize it is probably not much but why do so many private practice OMFS complain about it so much? I grew up in a city of about 1 million people and the level 1 facility was staffed by the OS I worked for. The practice was on call 24-7 but only were paged 1 or 2 times a week during the worst weeks.

Say $1k a day....that's not bad for a full week of being on call, then if you happen to get a patient with insurance, you can bill out the $1500-$2k for the surgery. Is this unrealistic or are most on-call obligations far more demanding where that $1k fee is insignificant? And yes, I realize 4 wisdom teeth cases make more than all this trauma stuff for the week.

 

[aphistis]

What is a typical fee? I realize it is probably not much but why do so many private practice OMFS complain about it so much? I grew up in a city of about 1 million people and the level 1 facility was staffed by the OS I worked for. The practice was on call 24-7 but only were paged 1 or 2 times a week during the worst weeks.

Say $1k a day....that's not bad for a full week of being on call, then if you happen to get a patient with insurance, you can bill out the $1500-$2k for the surgery. Is this unrealistic or are most on-call obligations far more demanding where that $1k fee is insignificant? And yes, I realize 4 wisdom teeth cases make more than all this trauma stuff for the week.

One page is all it takes to get stuck with a shotgun-under-the-chin, where'd-his-face-go? failed suicide attempt that can ruin your whole month. Depending on where you are and how the dice fall, trauma patients will range from simple injuries to utter disasters, and you don't get to pick and choose which ones you want to take care of.

 

[InMyCrossHairs]

One page is all it takes to get stuck with a shotgun-under-the-chin, where'd-his-face-go? failed suicide attempt that can ruin your whole month. Depending on where you are and how the dice fall, trauma patients will range from simple injuries to utter disasters, and you don't get to pick and choose which ones you want to take care of.

Unfortunately that isnt true. We get transfers all the time from other OMFS, ENT and PRS for patients they dont want to treat. From ENT or PRS we will get the excuse that they dont do "jaw" work. From OMFS we get that they dont do midface or extensive soft tissue. What they really mean to say is...we dont do medicaid or uninsured or we dont treat at inconvenient times.

In addition, just b/c you are an OMFS, doesnt mean you have the skills and education to treat all facial injuries. This goes along with another thread at this time with quality of programs. You may not get great penetrating mid-face trauma at some programs, thus you probably arent the most qualified individual to treat these complex patients.