Private Practice- maternity leave?

[l-styx]

I am a psych NP. I work full-time for a local hospital and have a very small private practice two afternoons per week. I am pregnant and trying to plan my maternity leave. The hospital is straightforward- I'll use PTO and short-term disability for as long as I can get away with (hopefully at least 12 weeks). I'm stumped with what to do about the private practice and wonder if anyone has suggestions.

I am currently only seeing 4-10 pts per week, so it's not high volume. I work with a psychiatrist who has agreed to "see some of them if they need to be seen," but is booked pretty solid and doesn't have tons of availability. The kiddo is due in late September so I'm getting to the point where my quarterly follow-ups are landing in the early weeks post-delivery. I have stopped taking new patients for a while, which is hard because there is high demand in my community and a lot of pressure to see people.

Do anyone have ideas for how to navigate this? Kindly refrain from telling me I should have organized this earlier; I recognize that, but wasn't sure about how the pregnancy would go and didn't want to go public too early.

thanks in advance for your help, friendly internet strangers :-)

--L

[Psychcns]

Is telepsychiatry an option in your state? Or schedule your follow ups early?

[bugya90, ASN, BSN, LVN, RN]

Could you work late a few evenings prior to your delivery to get some of your follow ups in?

[l-styx]

I'm not set up for telepsych. I only live about 5 minutes away from my office, so it wouldn't be terribly difficult to go in a few hours per week, I just worry about how much work it will be to have a new baby (my first, so I really don't know what I'm in for). I am planning to see people 'early' in the few weeks before the kiddo is due and to make sure everyone has appropriate refills. I'm worried about leaving people hanging during however many weeks I'm out, and also worried that if things slow down too much when I come back I'll essentially have to start over with building a private practice.

[sadiemae1123]

Have you tried contacting any locus tenum agencies to see if it would be financially feasible to have someone come in for a few weeks after the baby is born?

[Jules A, MSN]

Have you tried contacting any locus tenum agencies to see if it would be financially feasible to have someone come in for a few weeks after the baby is born?

Good idea, in my area we either get a friend-colleague to cover us for our time off or hire a locum.

[l-styx]

Thanks, those are good ideas.

Do you have any trouble with insurance credentialing? As in making sure that your friend-colleague is on the same panels?

[llg, PhD, RN]

I would also recommend arranging for some help with the child care end of things. You might be able to find coverage for 100% of your private practice patients, but maybe not. You might feel best in the long run if you plan to see a few of those patients (a couple of hours per week?). Pre-arranging some help with the baby care would probably make that possible.

That's the burden of solo practice.

[Jules A, MSN]

Thanks, those are good ideas.

Do you have any trouble with insurance credentialing? As in making sure that your friend-colleague is on the same panels?

One who covers for me is already at the same practice the other one was paneled by my secretary so I'm not sure how difficult but I do know that process takes a while so you might not be able to get it done this late in the game. Good luck.

[Nacki, MSN, NP]

How long will it take you to set up tele visits for your practice? Have you even looked into it? 5 mins from home without a kid is vastly different when you have one. You won't want to be too far after the baby is born.