rural family practice

[Kevo]

hey everyone! i'm new here and i'm a first year medical student.
i have a question. i have been told that family physicians are compensated more in rural areas than in suburban areas. is this true? and if so, why is this the case? it seems like rural areas would have more patients with medicaid as opposed to private insurance. i know that talking money is taboo in some places but i can't get a straight answer from anyone that i know. i'm just curious, i don't know much about the business side of running a practice or anything. any thoughts would be appeciated.

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[deleted6669]

Rural fp docs often have a much broader scope of practice than their urban colleagues. many do high risk ob including c-sections and take ER call plus multiple icu/inpatient admissions. this contributes to a higher overall salary. if you are the only doc in town you end up doing a lot of procedures, etc that would otherwise be done by a specialist. if you are interested in rural fp there are several training programs with additional ob/EM/trauma/surgery experience to prepare you for this setting. ventura county medical center in california is probably the most well known of these programs.

 

[bigfrank]

Yes, I've been wondering the same things too. If anyone has any further comments, they'd be greatly appreciated.

 

[roo]

If the rural community is underserved (and many are) sometimes either the local municipality/government or the people of the community themselves will top up the salary of the rural physician. This is usually the result of an "physician action committee" set up to get enough doctors to the area. It propagates, because some underserved communities start doing it, then more of them do it to stay competitive. Recruitment and retention are huge problems.

This would be done in 2 ways: 1st a signing bonus of usually around 20000-100000. Then and/or a continued increased salary. Investing 100000 at the start of a career would in itself be enough to retire on at the end of a career.

I don't think I would be comfortable taking extra money from the citizens a rural community though, especially when so many will be hardworking farmers who may be working on the threshold of making ends meet.

 

[louman]

I am currently a rural fp doc in S.C
It is indeed true that rural areas provide higher compensation.
As an example Rural medicaid pays approximately 53.00 per level three visit. A level three visit is a followup HTN or DM2.
In urban America or with private insurance you would be lucky to collect this at all times and in such an expididted manner.
No it is not completely true that You have too do much more work either ie deliveries and procedures etc. Many rural hospitals do not have OB delivery rooms any longer and therefore OB or sugery is not necessarily a requirement
Rural Medicaid and Medicare.

 

[Peeshee]

Louman,
can you please share your experience with us as a rural physician? On average, how many patients do you see per day? What are your hours like? What made you want to go into rural practice? What are the advantages/disadvantages that you see? ......etc....
This would be much appreciated!