Anyone here do personal injury? Wanted to see what your experiences have been like. Thanks!
Personal injury
- Thread starter PMRorBUST
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richest pain docs in town are PI pain.
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I personally do not have the moral laxity to do PI work.
Good luck to you if you decide to go this path.
Good luck to you if you decide to go this path.
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“Moral laxity”? Care to explain? Genuine question as I’m not sure what morally is very different than the moral field mines of pain medicine in general. What specifically about personal injury makes it different?
I once worked for a pi heavy practice owned by a d bag doctor. The main ambulance chaser in town had the cahones to send me a form with what he wanted me to fill out highlighted. When I didn’t fill it out as what he wanted he complained to my boss and I had to hear about how this slime ball lawyer didn’t “ like me.” So glad I had already put in my notice.
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PI is about malingering and money. Patient care comes in a distant third.
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The problem with PI is that the goals of treatment are not aligned with actually getting better. The goal is to get as big a financial settlement as possible. This happens by "proving" significant disability from the injury and by inflating cost of treatment as much as possible.
The patient and lawyer do NOT want the patient to get better and go to work, they want hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical treatment which was ineffective. The best way to string this along is to give narcotics and do lots of procedures (which will all be ineffective).
Most of use go into medicine to help people. In pain management, we usually want to provide the necessary (not excessive) treatments to help the patient become functional again. To go to work and participate in activities they enjoy. Juicing the system for cash and encouraging our patient to be a slug isn't usually our bag.
The patient and lawyer do NOT want the patient to get better and go to work, they want hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical treatment which was ineffective. The best way to string this along is to give narcotics and do lots of procedures (which will all be ineffective).
Most of use go into medicine to help people. In pain management, we usually want to provide the necessary (not excessive) treatments to help the patient become functional again. To go to work and participate in activities they enjoy. Juicing the system for cash and encouraging our patient to be a slug isn't usually our bag.
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We get paid, a significantly higher amount…eventually. Patients are mostly unreliable/no shows frequently.
20%…maybe 10%, I’m just spitballing numbers here, need/benefit from our care.
20%…maybe 10%, I’m just spitballing numbers here, need/benefit from our care.
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You are not specifically working for the benefit of the patient. You are working for the insurance company or in close conjunction with a law firm.
Lawyers hate me. What is best for patients is usually not compatible with what is wanted by attorneys.
Lawyers hate me. What is best for patients is usually not compatible with what is wanted by attorneys.
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Thread resurrection:
For anyone that does PI work at a PI clinic separate from your practice, does your practice claim your PI revenue? If you move jobs but stick with the PI work, has anyone successfully negotiated to work 0.8 FTE (for example) to allow you to continue that PI work so as to keep that per diem for yourself? Just wondering what others' experiences have been.
For anyone that does PI work at a PI clinic separate from your practice, does your practice claim your PI revenue? If you move jobs but stick with the PI work, has anyone successfully negotiated to work 0.8 FTE (for example) to allow you to continue that PI work so as to keep that per diem for yourself? Just wondering what others' experiences have been.
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What about the courage of your convictions to stand up for people who have been legitimately harmed?
You mean that .1 percent? Sure go for it
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Do you think that only 0.1% of PI claims are with merit? The rest are not real victims of drunk/impaired drivers, professional negligence, road rage, personal assault, criminal behavior, etc?
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i take care of them as any patient - ie irrespective of their insurance.
i just dont get paid for PI work. and yes, it is a financial loss to me, but its not about the money.
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There are lots of threads in the past about this.
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PI is far worse than WC, because PI is managed by lawyers and WC is managed by case managers first, lawyers second.
Proof is in the deposition - You'll find civility and professionalism in WC cases, while the PI cases are straight mud slinging and personal attacks.
I do a fair amount of PI, and I have no clue how the billing works for it. I just do it for the sake of our practice and don't think about it. I'm sure it pays well or else we wouldn't do it. Pinch my nose, go in the room and basically tell 95% of them they have an aggravation of a pre existing condition, and they'll be better with PT, Robaxin and my patented 15x4 heat/ice treatment (15 min heat, 15 min ice, 15 min heat, 15 min ice - that's 60 min with no breaks in between - you can do that at work).
Proof is in the deposition - You'll find civility and professionalism in WC cases, while the PI cases are straight mud slinging and personal attacks.
I do a fair amount of PI, and I have no clue how the billing works for it. I just do it for the sake of our practice and don't think about it. I'm sure it pays well or else we wouldn't do it. Pinch my nose, go in the room and basically tell 95% of them they have an aggravation of a pre existing condition, and they'll be better with PT, Robaxin and my patented 15x4 heat/ice treatment (15 min heat, 15 min ice, 15 min heat, 15 min ice - that's 60 min with no breaks in between - you can do that at work).
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Sounds like an ad lol .. no seriously
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I would say its probably 1 in 3 car accidents will have some sort of pain-resulting injury, anecdotally.
So you take PI patients, but dont get paid by the PI settlement? Are you doing this work pro-bono?
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the hospital system bills for services rendered.
whats a PI settlement?
whats a PI settlement?
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When a personal injury litigation settles, or an award is provided to the plaintiff, you collect your billed charges. Typically a reduction is taken similar to an insurance based rate.
For example, you bill 5k for an epidural. the patient is awarded 100k for the lawsuit. lawyer gets paid 40k. you take a 50% reduction because the lawyer doesnt want to pay too much of that 40k out and you want to keep those referrals coming in. still get 2500 for the epidural compared to the 250 medicare rate.
