In-home NP Medicare Assessments

CRF250Xpert · Jul 18, 2012

ditto. I am looking to do them myself. Looks like payola, but there must be a down side. A quick phone tag revealed they just can't get MDs to do it since it doesn't pay enough for them to close the clinic for a day and go to assessments. I can take a day off and bank home visits in my opinion. Keep me posted.

Georgia RN03 · Jul 20, 2012

I have seen several job postings for these type of positions. I am interested in the position because it sounds like there is a good amount of flexibility.
Does anyone have experience doing them? What exactly does the visit entail? Did you enjoy it? What did you think of the salary? Thanks!

I would love to do home assessments. The only only problem for me is that I am a new NP and they seem to require 1-2 years experience.

Nelly, FNP · Aug 2, 2012

Hope this can be helpful for you. I just received an email from an employer about this very type of program, see below...

"We are seeking Nurse Practitioners to work for us in the Houston, Texas area. Our work week is Monday through Saturday. Since we offer a flexible work week, you can choose the days you want to work or you can choose to work full-time -- 5-6 days a week. You will be employed as an independent contractor. We offer competitive pay for this position.

We are a healthcare solutions organization that provides health risk assessments on behalf of Health Plans. Our services enable Medicare Advantage Plans to improve and meet the CMS 5-Star Rating Objectives.

As a Nurse Practitioner for our company you will visit Medicare patients within a home setting and perform a health risk assessment which takes about 60-90 minutes per assessment. We generally book 8-10 appointments per day for a scheduled work day. We schedule and confirm the appointments and provide you with a Daily Work Schedule Report that details all the necessary information for the patients you are to see. Our office team is available throughout the day to provide support to you while visiting the patients."

Okay so the flexibility does sound great but Im not sure about spending 1-1.5 hours in a persons home. Also why are these visits so lengthy? My other concern is that they will book 8-10 visits a day. When you include drive time/traffic that is way more than an 8 hour day; how far apart are the homes? Also if someone decides not to be available at the time you arrive at the home what type of compensation is there for the effort?. Initially I saw these types of positions as a possible solution to the Mon-Fri office grind but now im not sure. It would definetly be nice to hear from those already in the field!

silverdolphin · Oct 12, 2012

Does anyone know how much companies get paid by medicare for initial in home assessments by NP?

Kango · Oct 13, 2012

It is upto the company who you work with. My pay was $65 per visit and increased based on number of pts you assessed. Such as every 100pts you see increase $10. I did this only for 3 month. As you get used to, you will know the flow and will be able to use your time more effectively. However it takes longer if the pt is unable to move by themselves and wants to talk a lot. Also you need to do many pages of report to send to contracted company. I don't know how much the company get paid by Medicare.

guest416560 · Oct 15, 2012

I do this and get paid $80 per visit for just the physical assessment. If I get labs ie blood or urine they pay an extra $20 so I try to get labs on all of my patients. $100 per visit with 10 visits a day on average. I usually get done with each patient in 30 to 45 minutes. The more you do it the quicker you get at it.

Made $800 to $1000 on most days. No bennies, working as an independent contractor. I believe Medicare reimbuses the company around $217.00 for the assessments.

Great way to make bank.

emtneel · Oct 15, 2012

I do this and get paid $80 per visit for just the physical assessment. If I get labs ie blood or urine they pay an extra $20 so I try to get labs on all of my patients. $100 per visit with 10 visits a day on average. I usually get done with each patient in 30 to 45 minutes. The more you do it the quicker you get at it.
Made $800 to $1000 on most days. No bennies, working as an independent contractor. I believe Medicare reimbuses the company around $217.00 for the assessments.
Great way to make bank.

This seems like very good pay. I'm an independent contractor and when a few companies tried to hire me for this job i don't remember it being that good.

As well as they expected you to print ~20pages per patient and fax them back every day, all at your own expense. Printing/faxing is also a cost that has to be considered. As well as milage to/from the sites.

LaurieCRNP2002, MSN, RN, APRN · Jan 20, 2013

I am currently doing this for another company. Like FNP2B1, I am an independent contractor-no benefits. When I started last year, they were able to schedule a fair amount of visits for me daily-5 or 6. The rate is $125. They provided a laptop with the program they use and it is not as in-depth as other companies seem to require (not sure if that's good or bad). They seem to schedule me with a lot of people who see their doctor on a regular basis and are fairly healthy--they may have some issues like hypertension or hyperlipidemia that are well-controlled with meds. Granted, I've had a few people that I spent longer with but my typical visit seems to be about 30-35 minutes.

The downside (besides no bennies) is that if they don't schedule many visits for you, you're stuck (if this is your only job). As I said, the people who I am seeing are Independence Blue Cross/Blue Shield and for the most part, fairly healthy. I do call the night before and if they are not home for some reason when I arrive for the visit, I get paid 1/2 my usual rate (so roughly $60). After early November, there were no visits (which they did not tell me when I started!). :arghh:

If anyone would like more specifics, please feel free to PM me. Hope this is helpful to everyone! :)

Sob24 · Aug 1, 2013

Hi LLDpaRN can you pm me details of the company you work for. I just signed with Medxm but UR pay Sounds way better

Fightingforhealth · Aug 30, 2013

I would also like to know the company that pays that much and if

They are good to work with. Do you know any companies that offer

Work in Jan.- March?

carachel2 · Aug 31, 2013

I'm on my second week of doing per Diem in home wellness assessments for UHC. I like it a LOT! Caveat: I am at a place in my career where family flexibility and pay are more important than exciting procedures, a major position, my own parking spot or my own business.

With that said: the training is very thorough. They fly you to one of three locations for training. They schedule the patients for you based on the availability you lay down in the self-scheduling system. You do have to call the members the night before but that takes like 5 minutes on my lunch break the night before. They provide you with a tablet and all the supplies you will need. You do a health maintenance check (vaccines, colonoscopy? etc etc); take note of their meds, do a history and review of systems; a somewhat limited exam (you don't undress them and lay them down in their home!); a urinalysis only for protein and glucose; blood pressure and now in the fall you can also do flu shots. You leave them a nice gift, do some patient education where appropriate and then you are done. I usually finish the documentation in the car or *choose* to take it home (takes 10 minutes tops for me per patient unless they are super complicated...I get 85% done at their home).

I am only doing it per diem (12 hours per week). My clients/members have appreciated the service and said it was helpful. The pay is great (I refuse to say on here but I will say it is generally more than any office rate I have heard of in my area) and if you need benefits then 24 hours per week with them = access to what looks like pretty good benefits and incentives for seeing any more patients. Cons: occasional super complicated members. There are members in assisted living centers (not supposed to be seeing nursing home patients though); a lot of them in general are old and lonely and like to talk; some of the homes are less than stellar but it's the sad reality of some older adults these days. I have never felt unsafe. Pros: I make my own schedule in blocks of 3 hour availability; fun job meeting new people; being out and about during the day instead of tied to an office; no prescribing (I've heard some say that is a drawback but I get plenty of that in my regular job so I don't miss it; no follow-up calls, plan, etc. other than education and recommendation you enter on the tablet.

From what I understand hearing from other NPs, there HAVE been some scheduling issues where people were sent driving all over. So far I have not experienced this at all. But I live in a population dense area...some places are much less dense and I can see the driving getting to be too much. So far UHC has been very responsive to any issues. You have to be willing to finish some of your training at home..that's fine, I do that in my jammies @ 10 pm, lol.

PM me if you have further questions. I know some have not had a good experience. The company has grown in a huge way in the last year and there has been some growing pains but my experience is they are really trying to smooth it all out.