Geriatrician reimbursement

[raptor5]

Are Fellowship trained geriatricians reimbursed as specialists? Is it 3rd party payor dependent? Just curious. Issue was brought up today. Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted87716]

Are Fellowship trained geriatricians reimbursed as specialists?

Nope. They bill the same CPT codes as everyone else.

Most, if not all, of their office visits should be at least 99214/99204's, however. They may also be able to bill some extended-service modifiers, although these aren't always reliably paid (see: http://www.aahpm.org/sites/CPTCodes.pdf ).

There's really no extra money in geriatrics. Due to longer visits (which generally equate to lower patient volumes) and a poor payor mix, most geriatricians earn less than their full-spectrum family medicine colleagues. Relevant article here: http://mdsalaries.blogspot.com/2006/10/geriatrics-aint-paying-too-much.html

People go into geriatrics because they enjoy it, not for any additional money.

 

[raptor5]

Thanks Kent. That's what I thought but wasn't sure.

 

[deleted87716]

Now, that's not to say that you couldn't line up a nice salaried gig as the medical director for an upscale retirement community or something. I'm sure those jobs are out there.