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How Much Should I Be Making?


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I work in family practice, with a salary plus bonus, which equals roughly 19% of my collections total. This seems low to me, although my total pay is above the median for my area. I've now been seeing patients for a full year, and I'm thinking if I want any kind of raise, I'm going to have to initiate that.

 

What would be a fair pay rate? Should I push to a level that would be 25 or 30% of my collections? Does anyone know of any resources that show an average pay rate in terms of percentage of collections for family practice?

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20% of collections is really low.  Seems like average is 30-40%, although I have read that family practice has higher overhead for various reasons than a specialty so that can play into it.  You must have a very good collection rate and be fairly busy to only be making 20%, you are really benefiting that practice.  I would try to negotiate at least 30%.  I am right at 50% but that is including their taxes, malpractice and benefits, plus my MA is only part time so really just for my salary I am probably more at 35% of collections. 

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I'm not sure what my average patients per day would be, but I've seen as much as 31 in a day, and as little as 6 (on a half-day). Probably average around 15. Reimbursement is higher than average because an SP signs off on every note, and apparently that allows them to bill at the same rate as a physician, as far as I understand. Total collections for year one $550k.

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Huntstyle- a physician signing the chart does NOT allow them to bill under the physicians name. In fact there are very few circumstances through which a PA visit can be billed under a physician. Get that corrected quickly in your practice or you could be in trouble for fraud if caught. Here is a basic guideline review....

 

A PA can bill under the physician if: Services are provided in a physician’s office or physician’s clinic.

The physician sees the Medicare patient on the initial visit and establishes a diagnosis and treatment plan. The PA sees the patient on the follow-up visit.

For established Medicare patients with a new problem, the physician sees the Medicare patient first for the new problem and establishes a diagnosis and treatment plan. The PA sees the patient on the follow-up visit.

The physician is on site, within the suite of offices.

The physician continues to see the patient at a frequency that reflects ongoing management of the patient’s care.

Services are within the PA’s state law scope of practice.

 

If any of these are not met, PAs should bill Medicare with the PA’s NPI, as rendering provider, with reimbursement at 85 percent.

 

Some private insurance companies follow these rules and in others they will reimburse the same regardless of the provider type. In any situation though, to my knowledge, all billing should be under your name only unless all of the above are met.!

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I'm not sure of the specifics, but they've been doing it this way for years. I'm sure they're within the laws. I rarely see Medicare patients, it's almost all private insurance because we only started accepting Medicare (and only for our established patients aging into it) this year. Anyway, that's another topic.

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...Deleted for another topic.

 

I just am finishing my first year and will have made around 25% of collections, though my collections are less than yours. I don't know of many resources other than AAPA but have seen employers use a formula such as a base salary + 20-30% of collections beyond 2.5x your base salary for more experienced providers in primary care.

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