Routine Labs in Private Practice

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For those in private practice, what routine labs do you order and how often?

How often do you order specialized labs (i.e. TSH for depression /bipolar, LFT for mood stabilizers, kidney function test for lithium, metabolic profile for atypicals, etc.)?

Do you order enough labs to make providing the ancillary service yourself worthwhile?

Or do you let the PCP worry about the labs?

 

[F0nzie]

PP psychiatrist here. I write a lab Rx for patients to take to an outside lab or I fax their PCP an ROI to release their most recent labs. While it would be nice to draw labs on site, the cost to my practice would be prohibitive. IMO no profit here unless you run a large clinic and write a lot of meds like Lithium, Depakote, or Clozaril.


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[PistolPete]

Not in PP yet, but I generally check FLP/A1c/CBC/cmp for patients on atypicals every year.

For initial patients with depression, TSH initially and OSA screen initially.

I don't prescribe many non-Li mood stabilizers, but when I do, check CBC and CMP initially and then about every 6 months.

For Li, CMP every 6 months.

 

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Thank you for the answers.

 

[countthes]

How are you guys in a cash only private practice going about getting routine blood work on your patients who have insurance? Are you finding that your patients just have to pay the co-payment for the blood work you order? Do you have to do anything other than just writing an RX and having them go to an outside lab? Do you guys send in prior approval to their insurance companies before getting the blood tests done?