I only made 164K

sarah said...

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a family doc making that kind of money in Rhode Island. The data are obviously flawed. In fact keep your eyes open for a follow up article in the Projo this Sunday July 1. They have promised us a comment and correction, and maybe this could lead to another article about what is wrong with primary care in RI.

June 27, 2007 7:58 PM

A.J. said...

Okay, I confess. I didn't make 170K. I only made 164K. But hey, I'm only 4 years out of residency after all. Keep in mind, I work an honest 45hours a week, I take call 2 or 3 times a month, and I make weekend rounds once a month. All my patients are insured, most are quite appreciative of my care, and a typical day has me seeing on average about a dozen patients. What's my secret?
I'm a prison doctor.
And you know what else?
I love it!
Primary care (of adult men, albeit) at its best!
Oh, and you may be wondering why am I so open about my salary? Well, as a state employee, I had the honor of finding my salary posted on the internet last week, compliments of the Boston Herald. Hey, I've got nothing to hide. Maybe this will help us recruit more docs into Correctional Health!
A.J. Rubineau, MD MPH
Associate Program Medical Director
U Mass Correctional Health

June 29, 2007 1:09 AM

my salary

I was appalled by the article in ProJo. What is wrong with the Dept of Labor? Where did they get the information? I don't know anyone in RI who makes that much as a family doctor. Do you think it was a rumor started by someone trying to impress a date? Thanks to Al Puerini and others who let Mr. Smith know the reality of practicing primary care in RI. Look for the corrected information this weekend.
Margaret A. Sun, MD
President

170K?

I make less than I made 10 years ago! With static reimbursement and rising costs I have no idea how these figures can be accurate. The sad thing is that the disproportionate increase in med school tuition makes primary care out of reach for many graduates. The other sad thing is that to generate these kinds of numbers it seems a provider would need to emphasize quantity over quality. Using salary.com for Providence, Hartford, CT and Worcester MA gives $160, $175 and $166K. Still much higher than I would have thought, but without an advantage over adjacent states. Please tell me what I'm doing wrong!!!!
Betsy Farnum

PROJO Article: The following is from an email exchange I thought would be valuable to this conversation.
Kim


Mr. Smith:

I do not know where you got your data from. I am an internist and work like a dog and don't even come close to the claimed salary that you report. How did you get your data? And did you confirm that data? I ask that you do further research and write a more responsible article using confirmed data. This is article will only fuel the exodus of more doctors out of the State of RI. The insurers will eat us alive with this unconfirmed data and proceed to cut our pay; and then we will leave the state even more. Do you have a primary care doctor? If you don't go try to find one that is taking new patients!

My income over the last 5 years has declined each year. My 1040 income last year is about 45K less than the average that you report in your article, and I have one of the busiest practices in a 20+ internal medicine group. There is a disconnect between what the table states and reality.

Please respond promptly.

Warren Licht, MD


Dear Dr. Licht:

The data in the story comes from the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, specifically their Labor Market Information Unit, which compiles salary information for all occupations in the state. According to a spokesman for the DLT, they survey about 2,000 Rhode Island employers every year on salary figures. For physicians, that would include places such as Rhode Island Hospital. We were reporting the figures they released to the public. If you have questions about the methodology, I’d suggest you contact them directly. I deal with Laura Hart, 462-8090.

Andy Smith.


Mr. Smith:

I spoke with Laura Hart today and she is going to research the data and see what it all means. She agreed that perhaps there may be clumping of data and that it may not fairly represent RI doctors' situation. Personally I think that your article did more than report data; you had many commentaries that used the data and made inferences that frankly are not true. I think that as a journalist you should have done a better job in confiming your sources of this data before publishing such an article. I am very disappointed.

I told Ms. Hart to not only contact myself with her research of the data but to contact you and the RIMS. I hope that you are able to take that follow-up from her and re-write another follow-up piece that rectifies any misrepresentation of the data. Even with that follow-up piece, I am afraid your article is too damning for us as a specialty (Primary Care) to reverse public impression.

Sincerely,
Dr. Licht


From Al Puerini, MD:

I think the PCLC should act on this. If we were making the money they stated in the article, we wouldn't need a PCLC!!!
The article was truly outrageous and Warren's comments are right on!

Al

Albert J. Puerini, Jr., M.D.

Did anyone see the ProJo article on what Rhode Island Family Physicians make in Rhode Island. WHERE DO THEY GET THESE NUMBERS???

No one I know makes that much. AND, How do we make more than the Drs. In MASS or CONN. We must be seeing a lot more patients if this is correct.

Maybe the Rhode Island Medical Society needs to reply to this article.

John Bossian

The Graham Center has completed an economic impact analysis of what family physicians contribute to the state economy. This allowed us to craft an issue brief on the "Economic Impact of Family Physicians in Rhode Island."

The issue brief provides an overview of family medicine, the economic benefits, and a map - generated from Health Landscape - showing the distribution of family physicians in your state along with county HPSA designations all in a 2-page document. There is an additional piece which explains the methodology used in arriving at the figures.

To view this information please visit http://www.riafp.org it is posted on the homepage.

Thanks,
Kim

Another Blue Cross Trick

Right now I’m really upset so please bear with me if I ramble. Here is the issue you must watch out for. Apparently Blue Cross has decided it was paying us wrong when it came to it as a secondary.
Here is an example: You bill the primary $100, the primary adjusts the charges and has a allowable of $50. It pays you $40 and passes the co-payment to the patient of $10. Your biller sends the $10 to the secondary (Blue Cross) who states is allowable is $45 therefore they only pay the difference, What the primary paid minus their allowable--$5. They say in some cases you must collect the remainder from the patient, in some cases, you can’t.
In the above case, if the secondary was $20 or $30 above the primary , you would only get the $10.

If this is not bad enough, I had a patient today who was on a generic medication, his cost was $7 which was paid for by his secondary, He just found out that his secondary, (Blue Cross) would only pay up to it’s allowable and the patient now has to pay the rest.

What is going here???? Have others noted this trend??? When did this new policy start?? (the rep at Blue Cross could not tell me.
This may sound like a small issue but a promise to us and a promise from the secondary’s to pick up the co-pays or the drugs is a promise.
Give me your ideas or thoughts. Kim, if you like, post this on the Blogg. I don’t know how many people have signed up yet.

John Bossian

Reminders

Hello guys,

I think it will take a few reminders, but probably after a few months it will catch on. Once people realize it is easy and sort of fun, that might do it!

Kim

Hope

I hope more people use this
John

Members

I want to welcome all of you to the RIAFP blog (I can't believe I just typed that word). Hopefully, this will be a place for sharing ideas about life and medicine and healthcare in RI. I look forward to your thoughts.