New job status - and higher income - starts next week

[bigdaddybus]

Congrats! It sounds like a win on all fronts, I am a guy that likes a lot of variety and I see the split between urgent care and private practice as very appealing.
Guessing urgent care will keep your diagnosing abilities sharp as you will see a wider variety of patient issue than private practice alone?

And to me more money provides more options, and options are always good

[disneysteve]

Guessing urgent care will keep your diagnosing abilities sharp as you will see a wider variety of patient issue than private practice alone?

Actually, just the opposite is true. Urgent care handles a far narrower range of things than I see in my practice. That's part of why I like the idea of keeping one foot in family practice.

Urgent care is a lot of similar stuff over and over - minor injuries, colds and flu, strep throat, urinary tract infections, rashes, etc. No chronic care like diabetes or high blood pressure or anything requiring more than one visit to address.

The biggest appeal to urgent care is the almost complete lack of paperwork. In my office, we are constantly inundated with forms - disability forms, insurance company forms, school forms, work forms, prior authorization forms, medical equipment forms, visiting nursing forms, etc. Also, there are virtually no phone messages in urgent care. In the office, it isn't unusual to have to attend to 30-40 phone messages per day. Urgent care, for the most part, is clean and simple - you see the patient and when they leave the clinic, you're done with them. The only exception is if you did any type of lab test on them and need to call them when the results come back but that's only a handful of people per day and if results are negative, the techs take care of that. The doctor/NP only has to make the call if the test is positive.

[Thrif-t]

I guess I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that as an Urgent Care Doctor you make more than as a Private Care Doctor. That has me stumped. Why is that? Not trying to be nosey, just genuinely curious. I would think it would be the opposite way around.

[disneysteve]

I guess I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that as an Urgent Care Doctor you make more than as a Private Care Doctor. That has me stumped. Why is that? Not trying to be nosey, just genuinely curious. I would think it would be the opposite way around.

Not at all. Family practice is the lowest paying field in medicine. Pretty much anything else one does as a doctor pays better. FPs are at the bottom of the pay scale, which is definitely part of the reason that so few people choose to go into family practice. If you are coming out of med school with substantial 6-figure student loan debt, it's going to take you forever to repay it as a family doctor.

[kv968]

Congrats on the raise Steve.

A trip to Disney World would be a good way to celebrate!

[disneysteve]

Congrats on the raise Steve.

A trip to Disney World would be a good way to celebrate!

I wish. For the first time in quite a while, we don't have a trip planned. We have a number of travel plans for the year but none involve Disney unfortunately. We really want to get down there again before our annual passes expire at the end of the year but I don't know if it will happen.

[SavingMum]

Wow, good for you! I got a small raise a month ago and it just creates so much more breathing space, so many more options! It's great that you have concrete plans of what to do with it all, some people would happily just raise their monthly expenses to match...

[disneysteve]

It's great that you have concrete plans of what to do with it all, some people would happily just raise their monthly expenses to match...

I think that describes most people, which is part of why folks are in the shape they're in.

I'm not going to lie and say we're going to be careful with every extra dollar coming in. We will definitely loosen up the purse strings and have fun with some of that money, go out to eat a bit more, spend a little more on travel, I need a new phone, my wife needs a new laptop, etc. But most of it will get put to good use.

[Outdoorsygal]

Wow!

1. Work less
2. Paid more
3. Medical Care cost less $$

All at once.

You must feel like you are in a dream. Good for you

[disneysteve]

Wow!

1. Work less
2. Paid more
3. Medical Care cost less $$

All at once.

You must feel like you are in a dream. Good for you

Not a bad combo, huh?

As for #1, I'll be working about the same number of hours, but at least initially, the volume of patients I see will be lower based on where I'm scheduled for the next 4 weeks. Some of the sites are considerably busier, though.

And for #3, I'll actually be paying a little more for my health insurance coverage but that coverage will be better so I'll save money on that end.

[HundredK]

Congrats, Steve! So glad it all worked out perfectly. :-)

[Outdoorsygal]

Not a bad combo, huh?

As for #1, I'll be working about the same number of hours, but at least initially, the volume of patients I see will be lower based on where I'm scheduled for the next 4 weeks. Some of the sites are considerably busier, though.

And for #3, I'll actually be paying a little more for my health insurance coverage but that coverage will be better so I'll save money on that end.

Fantastic Combo ! That can be #4 - less patients to care for while on the clock
I don't see anything left which can make this scenario any better

[disneysteve]

I don't see anything left which can make this scenario any better

How about the fact that the site where I'll be for at least the next 4 weeks is only 3 miles from my house so to start work at 9am, I need to leave about 8:40 vs. now when I leave at 7:30. My wife and I are both excited about being able to reset the alarm starting next week and not have to be up at 6:30 every day.

Even on the days when I go to my current office, my plan is to start going in later, about 8:15-8:30 rather than 7:45 like I do now.

[Outdoorsygal]

How about the fact that the site where I'll be for at least the next 4 weeks is only 3 miles from my house so to start work at 9am, I need to leave about 8:40 vs. now when I leave at 7:30. My wife and I are both excited about being able to reset the alarm starting next week and not have to be up at 6:30 every day.

Even on the days when I go to my current office, my plan is to start going in later, about 8:15-8:30 rather than 7:45 like I do now.

Wow again! I thought we had covered every aspect of what could be better about this job.
Double, Triple, Dipple, good on you

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy it.