Why are FNP paid less than Psychiatric NP?

Specialties NP

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This ksnisn't a knock against any specialists. I look up the salary to each and in most states I read that the PMHNP gets paid more than FNP. I would have assumed that the FNP would be able to work with any patient since they deal with all ages and the PMHNP deals with psych patients. Is there something I'm missing between the 2?

Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Where I live, FNPs are a dime a dozen. They are facing huge job shortages and stagnant to falling wages because there are just flat out more of them than there are jobs. However, in my hospital alone there is a huge need for psych NPs and in the area in general they are in demand.

Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).

There is a general shortage of psychiatric providers and that includes MDs, PAs, and PMHNPs. Most people who become providers prefer physical illnesses that are tangible and can be tangibly fixed. It can be difficult for many people to work with the mentally ill for emotional and psychological reasons. That is why there is a shortage of mental health providers in general. Of course, supply and demand varies by region.

Also, in general specialties pay more than primary care and that goes for all providers, including MDs.

FNPs that wish to make more money can specialize and there are plenty of other options besides psych. There is a thread here on most lucrative specialties for NPs.

4 Votes

I have a friend that just finished her FNP and has found a school that will allow her to do her Doctorate in mental health NP, she ask me one day did I look at the salary for this type of NP, she gave me a number that in her state is very high and this is the reason why she wanted to go for this. As long as people keep advertising money people are going to make decisions such as the one my friend is making, then eventually just like with the FNP profession now the pay will not be what it was because there are so many, and people competing for jobs will take anything. I worked in the prison system for 5 years as a nurse and it was definitely an experience. Mental Health patients are not stable, in my home town an EMT got attacked when approaching a mental health patient that was down and seemingly unresponsive, he is now blind in one eye. I don't remember mental health in my curriculum and you need to know all the mental health disorders and how to treat and deal with them. I feel like they deserve to get paid more, take it from someone who dealt with mental health patients for 5 years.

Specializes in Psychiatry.

I think FNPs come running ready to take any "advanced" job they get and become saddled with low pay regardless of what billing is collecting off of them.

In pysch, we are fewer and number and more likely to be reimbursed closer to what is billed sometimes regardless of whether it is collected.

With coding, 90792 tends to be a well reimbursed code and you could do one to the same patient every year by some insurances, and the 90833 add on, should you have the patient more than 20 minutes, is easily added to an a new or established patient visit for extra money. Psych doesn't bring a lot of overhead as we we tend to not need any specialized gear or bank of exam rooms.

1 Votes
Specializes in ER, HH, CTICU, corrections, cardiology, hospice.

The risk of going CCFCCP should be compensated. I worked with one in Farmington. We started on the same day. She was “normal” at that time, worked for 6 months, no red flags. I left for 3 months.

I was asked to come back. When I saw her again, she had bright red lipstick on with the color bleeding through the cracks and an extremely forces “super smile” accompanied by wide open eyes. She looked CCFCCP (coo coo for co co puffs).

There’s a shortage of psych NPs. And it’s not a bad route to follow. 2 of my friends are doing it. Gluck!

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