From:
Jean Antonucci <jantonucci@fchn.org>
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Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 11:39:45 -0400
Subject: [Practiceimprovement1] 1 yr report
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HI Having a slow monday so I thought I
would post how I turned out at
one year
Have posted this to the radical and confident and optimistic bunch
at
Practice Improevement 1 and the more oppressed-seeming people at
aafp's
pracice management list serv.Neither bunch seems any more wealthy than the
other...
I have finished 12 months I work entirely by myslef no staff though
I
outsource billing
Two rooms one an office/exam room andone an exam room Share
watiitng room
and bath and med refrig/counter space.
I opened for about $9,000 No loans though I ran up a Mastercard
balance.
Laptop and all in one and a small printer for scripts
Open access
no hospital work
MUch Nursinghome skilled care and some chronic care work
house calls.
good reminder system(tickler) via the laptop- Constant internet access
for
patient handouts and instant answers via up- to-
date and md
consult(get both free through hospital membership staff dues)
for extra income precept and reveiw charts for disability
Will be doing
also soon some independent medical examiner work for the same company I
reveiw disability charts for- they pay great
Lap top makes reports/registries easy though I am not sure yet that i USE
the cheap little emr to the best of its abilitties
It has taken using an emr 1 yr to see what things I want it to do
and
what it cannot do.
no email with patients yet or virtual visits though considering it
practice ordinary standard medical care nothing much alternative in
a
rural middle to low income setting heavy on medicare
EVERYONE also has maine care- medicaid but to survive I limit
it to about
10% of my practice About 25 % of the state is on it..
On call 24/7- use my homephone and ellphone Have a collegaue in his pwn
practice who will cover if I really go AWAY but Have taken the lap
top
with me on long summer weekends and check in twice a day. Painless.
Take medicare and maine care and indemnity bluecross i have NO
other
affiliations or in -networks contracts with any insurances. I balance
bill.
In this year 2 people have not paid me as of now That is a few were
written off and then later paid etc.
What everyone wants to know is MONEY.OK!
I began to make about 60,000 a year from the practice at about 5 mo
Now
for the last 3 months I make 64,000 . From t hat I pay my health
insurance-
have HSA , disability taxes etc of course.etc.
My schedule is about 3/4 full daily . Well today is about half- an
unusually slow day . Have 451 patients . I guess about 400 are active. If
64,000 is 75% then when the scedhule is full I can expect over 80,000
yearly income . That was my goal(becasue I can live quite
well on that ,
as I have worked like a dog and paid off my school loans and I live
nicely but I have cheap habits.Who goes out to eat?? We have few
restauarnts!! etc I can always supplement with precepting at the
residency
MORE if I want to give up days off. I work very long hrs about 11
in the
office 4 dyas a week and i do some work at home
so i try NOT to work
too many days a month precepting. But i can and have)
BUT my business plan says that at a max of 12 people a day
once the
maine care IS really limited (early on of course medicaid just fills up a
new practice) with an assumtption of $60.00 rec'd per patient at 4 days a
week I can earn about 103,000/yr
When I first posted that I was going to do this on aafp
practice
managemnt i got a "Jean! why would you do this??" and some
other private
" I bet you can I crunched the numbers you will
have lower costs which
will be good for self pay folks"
So .I am happy . I am hoping I take good care of patients . I have had
many
other jobs in medicine and this is the only thing to do at all ever.
I would Never practice the "old" way agian. And at one yr
I support
myslef though not fabulously butadequaltey WITHOUT TAKING INSURANCE
wihtout doing conciegre boutigue alternative
herby or even osteopathic
manipulations ( I amNOT disrespecting any of these I am describing my
situation) and it is onely 1 yr and there is only UP to go!
happy to answer any questions
Jean