Referrals

[IMres85]

Private practice can be competitive. Aside from tumor boards and obviously providing the best care I was curious if anyone has any particular strategies they use? I have a pretty busy practice but could always be busier.

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[NewYorkDoctors]

not a heme onc but I have colleagues in heme onc private practice who do a lot of "fundamentals." This includes working up things the Internist should be working up but does not want to (for any variety of reasons.. usually the desire to only see "easy 99213s" and turf everything else out to maximize the "revenue/effort" ratio)

think erythrocytosis - no pulmonary/OSA workup yet
think lung nodules in a patient who has not had any pulmonary workup yet
think cancer screening in a patient that has no cancer
think some "mass" is present somewhere and no tissue is present yet
think borderline low WBC count but normal diff and probably benign variants...

think simple office visits that do not lead to chemo... but might...]

my PP heme onc colleagues have an NP to field these consultations first (and he pops in afterward to say hello we will work it up for you - while he works on the chemo and hard stuff)

it's tedious work but if you had a midlevel to see these patients (with your popping in after to reassure the patient) that might create an extra revenue stream that might lead to a cancer diagnosis and some chemo/immuno.

just some thoughts

 

[gutonc]

Glad handing goes a long way.

Be sure EVERYONE (PCPs, surgeons, the ED docs, hospitalists) in the area has your cell number and knows that you're happy to help out at any time. It's way easier to text "hey, got a second for a quick question about X?" than it is to look up who's on call for hem/onc, call the office, get put on hold, get told that person's in a room, leave a message and get a call back.

And all those BS consults that @NewYorkDoctors mentioned are a great way to not just bulk up your practice with chip shots, but also to get the "good stuff" from those same referring docs when the time comes.

 

[IMres85]

Glad handing goes a long way.

Be sure EVERYONE (PCPs, surgeons, the ED docs, hospitalists) in the area has your cell number and knows that you're happy to help out at any time. It's way easier to text "hey, got a second for a quick question about X?" than it is to look up who's on call for hem/onc, call the office, get put on hold, get told that person's in a room, leave a message and get a call back.

And all those BS consults that @NewYorkDoctors mentioned are a great way to not just bulk up your practice with chip shots, but also to get the "good stuff" from those same referring docs when the time comes.

What do you think about touching base with referring doc after initial visit? I mean aside from sending note. I always reach out regarding new onc patients to referring doc regarding plan but not generally with heme

 

[osprey099]

Giving your cell phone number to all the local ED, PCP, GI, Surgeon docs and being available 24/7/365 to pick up the phone to chat is sure-proof way to beef up your practice

 

[gutonc]

What do you think about touching base with referring doc after initial visit? I mean aside from sending note. I always reach out regarding new onc patients to referring doc regarding plan but not generally with heme

I will do that a lot of the time. Either an InBasket or Teams message if they're in our system, or a text if I have their number.