How much do your specialist get paid for call?

[DoctwoB]

Sure, but my point is many of the docs who took call didn't sit at home all day collecting 3-5k/shift for a single hospital. They typically took call for the whole system and so some days were quite busy. Plus, most trauma patients typically are poorly insured. I mean the 2am Jaw fracture typically is not a well insured pt

This: I know neurosurgeons making 10k/night to take call in San Diego. But they cover every hospital their groups does, and it is brutal.

Call pay like anything comes down to supply/demand. Which comes down to number of specialty X in the area/how desperate they are for patients and how busy the call is. If there are competing groups in the area and you're having trouble filling your clinic, someone will take ER call for free for the referrals. Limited (or consolidated) supply = pony up.

For Urology I've seen anything from 0-2k/night for call. We also get the RVUs, but that ends up being a rounding error, since 20 minutes driving each way, seeing the patient, waiting for an hour for the OR, placing a stent, and driving home kills about 3 hours of your night for a level 4 consult and 2.5 RVUs for putting a stent in. For docs that are salaried or hospital employed, I've seen straight stipends for call or minimum guarantees if you come in e.g. you get paid for X hours of work if you come in, which leads to docs that are a lot happier to accept your foley consult.

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[turnupthegas]

For patients with no insurance, often times the on call nurses get paid more than the anesthesiologist and the surgeon for doing the case.

 

[Volatile]

Anesthesiologist, I cover a hospital in the Midwest that pays me >$5k for a 24hr home call. I’ve never not been called in and some weekends I wonder if it’s worth it :/

 

[Taurus]

Rad here. I’ve banked 10k+ on many moonlighting weekends (Sat + Sun). Total hours worked 15-20 for the weekend.

 

[namethatsmell]

Pain. Vast majority of docs don't take true hospital call. For the few docs that do, it usually ranges from $0-1000/24 hrs + whatever RVUs you bill...and that often works out to very little given the opportunity cost. So unless you're trying to grow a practice and want any referral (and will stop taking call once you're busy) or the hospital is employing you and adjusting your salary and workload to support this service, the math doesn't work to provide coverage. More hospitals seem interested in having pain on the call list though (to help reduce inpatient LOS and have outpt f/u for these patients etc), so wouldn't be surprised if call rates trend up over time. But still unlikely for it to become common.

 

[lunaire]

Critical Care -- we're shift work nowadays; night call typically gets a base stipend of approx $50 per hour for 12 hours, with APP or hospitalist in house.. If you're in house or in a place with multiple in-person active encounters (i.e. you're generating RVUs), the number gets closer to standard night shift rate - $200-250 per hour.

Some pulm/CC docs also cover pulm call, some places allow you to double dip like that. The jackpot seems to be a low volume or low acuity shop that allows double dipping CCM and another subspecialty, then taking 24H calls. Get paid double for day shift, paid double for night call. That'll be $5-12k per 24H shift.

 

[Dusn]

I've known of ophthalmology groups that get $30k/month for being on call. Know of hand surgeons making $4k/24 hour period for call.

It does exist, and I think it's determined by how desperately they're needed. Makes you feel great that some of the specialists are making more than you while they're sitting at home getting called in once per week (hand surgery), eh?

Good for them. The Ophtho attendings at my residency got paid nothing for taking call. They actually didn’t even know they were on call most of the time. Most of them never even came to the hospital and we had never met them. They worked in their own private clinics and operated in their private ASCs. But Someone would just write their names on the call schedule. Not surprisingly no one could ever reach them. When the Ophtho residents had a ruptured globe or a true emergency, we would try to keep the patient in the ED and stall until the morning when hopefully a clinic attending or the retina fellow would come in so we could get the patient to the OR. We were also told that the EM attending is the only attending on-record.

 

[nimbus]

L1TC in southern,ca. numbers I’ve heard thrown around is $3k for neurosurgery and ortho trauma. Ortho trauma is busier than neurosurgery. Stipend is good enough that we’ve had 2 separate neurosurgery groups fight for it. Also lots of uninsured/indigent/homeless patients so if they come in for a consult or bring a case to the OR, hospital guarantees them 120% of Medicare. I’ve been told uro, ophtho and ENT call is much less, a few hundred dollars. I’m anesthesia so we are in-house (sleep in the hospital) and get a decent stipend too.

 

[nimbus]

Pain. Vast majority of docs don't take true hospital call. For the few docs that do, it usually ranges from $0-1000/24 hrs + whatever RVUs you bill...and that often works out to very little given the opportunity cost. So unless you're trying to grow a practice and want any referral (and will stop taking call once you're busy) or the hospital is employing you and adjusting your salary and workload to support this service, the math doesn't work to provide coverage. More hospitals seem interested in having pain on the call list though (to help reduce inpatient LOS and have outpt f/u for these patients etc), so wouldn't be surprised if call rates trend up over time. But still unlikely for it to become common.

True. Almost impossible to get an inpatient chronic pain consult at my hospital. Sometimes the primary service will consult hospice and palliative care instead.

 

[DrOwnage]

Anesthesiologist, I cover a hospital in the Midwest that pays me >$5k for a 24hr home call. I’ve never not been called in and some weekends I wonder if it’s worth it :/

Bro thats a ridiculous stipend for anesthesia. I get 2500 for 24 in house.

 

[turnupthegas]

Anesthesiologist, I cover a hospital in the Midwest that pays me >$5k for a 24hr home call. I’ve never not been called in and some weekends I wonder if it’s worth it :/

Is this in addition to cases billed?

 

[Volatile]

Is this in addition to cases billed?

No, it’s a locums gig. I just negotiate rates that I want for day shift, call, weekends etc

 

[Volatile]

Bro thats a ridiculous stipend for anesthesia. I get 2500 for 24 in house.

No offense but you’re being taken advantage of. You’re being paid ~$100/hr, that’s horrible to stay in house for 24hrs. For perspective I’m paid over 3x that while I’m in house, and that’s pretty standard in the Midwest as a locums

 

[sevo00]

No offense but you’re being taken advantage of. You’re being paid ~$100/hr, that’s horrible to stay in house for 24hrs. For perspective I’m paid over 3x that while I’m in house, and that’s pretty standard in the Midwest as a locums

Bro thats a ridiculous stipend for anesthesia. I get 2500 for 24 in house.

I agree $2500 for 24 hours is low. I'm in a big metro area and even here you'll make more than that for 24 hours

 

[aafisahar]

I’m still shocked that there are neurologists who sign up for this stuff. If I was neuro, I would just open up shop and see a bunch of headache and neuropathy patients during banker hours. Those patients aren’t exactly pleasant to work with but at least you get to go home at 5 and sleep full nights.

dunno about you, but if that what I had to do every single day for 30 years, you bet your ass I would be putting 8lbs of pressure on a 10lb trigger and hoping for a miscalc

 

[turnupthegas]

Whats

I agree $2500 for 24 hours is low. I'm in a big metro area and even here you'll make more than that for 24 hours

What's reasonable? 4k?

 

[DrOwnage]

2500 is just the stipend for back up day and night time trauma, I'm 1099 and bill for units on top of that. So for a given 24 ill come out with closer to 5k and a decent amount of sleep. On OB ill do 100-150 units in 24 on top of the stipend.

I agree $2500 for 24 hours is low. I'm in a big metro area and even here you'll make more than that for 24 hours

 

[timpview]

wait so IC only makes the RVU from the cath but no stipend? That’s rough… get woken up for a false alarm and only pull a few hundred while having to work the following full day

If you’re chasing RVUs you make a bunch more on cardiology call for the ER follow ups: chest pain (stress tests) or the palpitations (New visit, echo, holter) that take 5 minutes.

 

[EctopicFetus]

If you’re chasing RVUs you make a bunch more on cardiology call for the ER follow ups: chest pain (stress tests) or the palpitations (New visit, echo, holter) that take 5 minutes.

I think like many things the question is complex. What’s better?

Getting $2k for taking call and then getting 4 well insured surgeries paying $1k a pop or 4k for call and maybe 1 of 4 of those consults having insurance and the other one being Medicaid paying $250?

The examples are made up but show there is more to the puzzle that just the stipend. In addition people with good follow up and social situations make life easier.

If you do Ortho and operate on a homeless guy who can’t care for their ex fix as an outpt you can expect more future surgeries on this patient, osteo etc. Just my 2 cents. It’s interesting to see the numbers but for it to make sense you have to do more than scratch the surface.