November will mark one year since I went full time in my primary care practice. It has been a hell of a journey. From all the initial headaches, to now things starting to smooth out. The biggest headache was that Aetna took 9 months to credential me. Not only did they take forever to get me in network, they lied to me and told me I was in network (They even had me listed as in network on their website before taking it down).… Read the rest

Picking up extra shifts in a subacute care facility sounds like a wonderful idea. Almost no overhead is involved for the physician, especially since most doctors already have a laptop and a malpractice policy. It seems like a natural progression that almost every hospitalist or primary care physician goes through, telling yourself that you can make extra money doing subacute care.… Read the rest

Doctors’ paychecks are often structured in one of three ways. Salary only, salary plus incentive bonuses, or production only. RVU (Relative value unit) is a method the United States Medicare system uses to value reimbursement for physician services. Some physician contracts, such as my contract, is 100% based on production, or how many RVU’s I bill for.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each system.  … Read the rest