New grad suspicious scheduling

[jLaws]

I graduated this year and am working in New England. The practice I work for has one other doc and is managed by her husband. I'm currently making good money, producing 14-17k a week thanks to their high fee schedule even though I haven't been that busy. My contract is 34% collections. Once in a while the owner will slip their non-productive procedures into my schedule, I've done at least 20 crown inserts in the three months I've been there on her patients. IMO, this is unprofessional. I've told her that I shouldn't be doing her non-productive procedures and her argument is that they are good relationship builders and that if I don't do them I'm not being a team player. Clearly this is BS. Is this a common practice? I'm not making a minimum so this is just me volunteering my time.

Despite producing 14-17k per week, my biweekly paychecks have been ~8750 and about ~6700 after tax. How long does Delta take to pay out assuming there is nothing wrong with the claim? These paychecks are several thousand short of production despite their collections being "100%". Where is the money going? I cover 34% of lab fees but thats only $150-200 per paycheck. Any feedback is appreciated, thanks.

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[charlestweed]

So you make around $200k per year. I think this is very good pay for a new grad. And you don’t have to run around working non-stop like many of the associate dentists who work at busy corp offices. I know you don’t like the way owner makes you do non-productive work since you are paid based the % of the collection. But keep in mind that an ideal associate job doesn’t really exist. Every associate job has its pros and cons. Here at the corp that I currently work for, the associate GPs have to do a lot of the non-productive procedures because many patients have HMO. They are so busy that they don’t have time for lunch or a bathroom break.

I am an orthodontists and I often have to take care of the ortho emergencies for other orthodontists who work at the same corp. And other orthodontists also help do the same for my patients. We don’t get paid for seeing these emergencies. We don’t mind helping each other because we get paid very well and we are not super busy like the associate general dentists.

My wife is a traveling periodontist who works at several GP offices. She gets paid based on the % of the production. When the GP owners are super busy with their patients, she often helps them by doing things like numbing the patients for them, delivering/adjusting provisional dentures (after she extracts teeth and places the implants) etc. When the GPs are away for their vacations, she doesn’t mind delivering some of the crowns and seeing emergency walk-in patients for them. And in return, the GP owners help doing the PO checks for her patients. Since she gets paid very well, she doesn’t look at the production sheet for the day to make sure that the GP owners don’t cheat her. The GP owners love her because she always treats their practice as if it is her own. She wants the owners to succeed so they continue to provide more perio patients to keep her busy ($$$).

 

[Torshammer]

So you make around $200k per year. I think this is very good pay for a new grad. And you don’t have to run around working non-stop like many of the associate dentists who work at busy corp offices. I know you don’t like the way owner makes you do non-productive work since you are paid based the % of the collection. But keep in mind that an ideal associate job doesn’t really exist. Every associate job has its pros and cons. Here at the corp that I currently work for, the associate GPs have to do a lot of the non-productive procedures because many patients have HMO. They are so busy that they don’t have time for lunch or a bathroom break.

I am an orthodontists and I often have to take care of the ortho emergencies for other orthodontists who work at the same corp. And other orthodontists also help do the same for my patients. We don’t get paid for seeing these emergencies. We don’t mind helping each other because we get paid very well and we are not super busy like the associate general dentists.

My wife is a traveling periodontist who works at several GP offices. She gets paid based on the % of the production. When the GP owners are super busy with their patients, she often helps them by doing things like numbing the patients for them, delivering/adjusting provisional dentures (after she extracts teeth and places the implants) etc. When the GPs are away for their vacations, she doesn’t mind delivering some of the crowns and seeing emergency walk-in patients for them. And in return, the GP owners help doing the PO checks for her patients. Since she gets paid very well, she doesn’t look at the production sheet for the day to make sure that the GP owners don’t cheat her. The GP owners love her because she always treats their practice as if it is her own. She wants the owners to succeed so they continue to provide more perio patients to keep her busy ($$$).

I echo the thoughts in this thread. There is no ideal position and sometimes you do have to put up with things if the position is good overall. Unsure about the second part of your question - perhaps there are adjustments/writeoffs.

 

[Roto Picante]

1. If you are completely booked with your own patients, you can politely decline their non productive patients. If you are "not that busy" as you've stated, do your best to be a team player. If this is your biggest gripe with your job as a new grad, you have it pretty good.

2. Is it a FFS office or do you accept multiple insurances? If you do accept insurances, the difference almost assuredly due to insurance adjustments/write offs. On average, write offs for my office are 25%. I live in a heavy military area so I can't drop United Concordia even though it sucks, thus the 25%. So in your situation, 17K x 2 x .75 x .34= 8670. So its about right assuming you accept insurances. You should ask for a monthly break down of your production, collections and write offs. I think it'll all make sense.

 

[unknown111]

I graduated this year and am working in New England. The practice I work for has one other doc and is managed by her husband. I'm currently making good money, producing 14-17k a week thanks to their high fee schedule even though I haven't been that busy. My contract is 34% collections. Once in a while the owner will slip their non-productive procedures into my schedule, I've done at least 20 crown inserts in the three months I've been there on her patients. IMO, this is unprofessional. I've told her that I shouldn't be doing her non-productive procedures and her argument is that they are good relationship builders and that if I don't do them I'm not being a team player. Clearly this is BS. Is this a common practice? I'm not making a minimum so this is just me volunteering my time.

Despite producing 14-17k per week, my biweekly paychecks have been ~8750 and about ~6700 after tax. How long does Delta take to pay out assuming there is nothing wrong with the claim? These paychecks are several thousand short of production despite their collections being "100%". Where is the money going? I cover 34% of lab fees but thats only $150-200 per paycheck. Any feedback is appreciated, thanks.

Not your prep, not your insert.
I wouldn't want a new provider stepping in to work on me when they didn't start the work initially.
Pretty sure you wouldn't want a new heart surgeon to work on you when you had the preop with a different one...
My 2c

 

[AONLINE]

I graduated this year and am working in New England. The practice I work for has one other doc and is managed by her husband. I'm currently making good money, producing 14-17k a week thanks to their high fee schedule even though I haven't been that busy. My contract is 34% collections. Once in a while the owner will slip their non-productive procedures into my schedule, I've done at least 20 crown inserts in the three months I've been there on her patients. IMO, this is unprofessional. I've told her that I shouldn't be doing her non-productive procedures and her argument is that they are good relationship builders and that if I don't do them I'm not being a team player. Clearly this is BS. Is this a common practice? I'm not making a minimum so this is just me volunteering my time.

Despite producing 14-17k per week, my biweekly paychecks have been ~8750 and about ~6700 after tax. How long does Delta take to pay out assuming there is nothing wrong with the claim? These paychecks are several thousand short of production despite their collections being "100%". Where is the money going? I cover 34% of lab fees but thats only $150-200 per paycheck. Any feedback is appreciated, thanks.

You have it pretty good for yourself my friend. I'm 2 years out, I'm paid on 33% collections and I cover 33% of lab fees and each month I have about $600 taken out of my paychecks for lab fees (I do about 20 crowns per month and maybe a removable case every month). My pre-tax biweekly paycheck is about $8k bi-weekly and about $5k post-tax (I live in a state with high income tax). I produce about $14k a week and I'm not that busy, would like to be busier. I'm the solo doc at this practice that accepts most PPO insurances, the reimbursement rates are ok but not great.

 

[schmoob]

You have a good job. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

Sometimes i still do other docs inserts, and sometimes they do mine.

IMO you are doing well your first year. Don’t mess it up over petty stuff. It’s not like you’re doing ann entire denture process and the owner delivers and gets the whole production, right? Just imagine you’re getting $800 a day and these are your requirements. Just do the job.

 

[LFA20]

You have it pretty good for yourself my friend. I'm 2 years out, I'm paid on 33% collections and I cover 33% of lab fees and each month I have about $600 taken out of my paychecks for lab fees (I do about 20 crowns per month and maybe a removable case every month). My pre-tax biweekly paycheck is about $8k/month and about $5k post-tax (I live in a state with high income tax). I produce about $14k a month and I'm not that busy, would like to be busier. I'm the solo doc at this practice that accepts most PPO insurances, the reimbursement rates are ok but not great.

any implants, third molar extractions, molar endo? Or are you mainly just doing operative/crown/removable? Also are you on the east/west coast?

 

[AONLINE]

any implants, third molar extractions, molar endo? Or are you mainly just doing operative/crown/removable? Also are you on the east/west coast?

No implants or molar endo, I rarely refer out any simple/surgical extractions but I generally don't do 3rd molars unless they are fully erupted. I realized that I made some typos in my post, my net production is about $14k a week but my office collection % is kinda low. My pre-tax pay is $8k bi-weekly or $16k/month. I am actually located in the Midwest, and I think my income is around the 50th percentile among my classmates.

 

[schmoob]

No implants or molar endo, I rarely refer out any simple/surgical extractions but I generally don't do 3rd molars unless they are fully erupted. I realized that I made some typos in my post, my net production is about $14k a week but my office collection % is kinda low. My pre-tax pay is $8k bi-weekly or $16k/month. I am actually located in the Midwest, and I think my income is around the 50th percentile among my classmates.

That’s about average. It’s good money.

 

[LogOff]

I would totally use those crown inserts to gas the patients up and if any genuinely needed or wanted dental work is done ask if they’d like it done that same day since they are already there = production for you. After the appointment tell them that you would love to meet any family or friends looking for a dentist and give them some business cards.