Clinic Telepsych Company Recommendations 2023

[VeryOldSpice]

Hey all, PGY-4 here looking at telepsych (clinic) jobs and was wondering if anyone has recommendations? Would love to hear about people's experiences, either from interviews or working at the various companies. There's a ton of options out there and it's hard to figure out where to start and what to look for in a company.

I have a few questions that could help jump start the thread:
1) What is considered fair compensation?
2) For full time, are benefits / malpractice generally included?
3) How do most companies handle when a patient cancels/no-shows?
4) How do most companies handle when you need more time with an acute patient?

Thanks all!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[splik]

My recommendation is to avoid all the major telepsych companies like the plague. If you want to do telepsychiatry, there are many options to do so nowadays. These big telepsych companies should be consider an option of last resort.

 

[ksharp33]

My recommendation is to avoid all the major telepsych companies like the plague. If you want to do telepsychiatry, there are many options to do so nowadays. These big telepsych companies should be consider an option of last resort.

I 100% agree with this.

 

[SmallBird]

Splik is 100% correct and here is some alarming data:

Talkiatry - they require you to see 14 to 16 patients a day and require that basically EVERY patient have a psychotherapy add on. Their salary I believe is $325k. However - that is a horrendous deal if you do the math. Averaging 2.9 RVUs for patient you are doing 44 RVUs per day, and if you annualize that based on how much vacation they offer it is 10 000 RVUs. If you did that at the national average for employed positions you would be able to make around $570k.

Life stance seems to pay a little more but for even higher volume - my back of the envelope calculation was that it comes to as many as 50 RVUs a day based on their requirements and coding strategy, meaning you are billing something like 11 000 RVUs a year. We need to boycott these companies and spread the word on how awful this is.

 

[ksharp33]

Talkiatry appears to overpromise and under-deliver. I have spoken to several colleagues who did work with them and no one is hitting the advertised salary range. They are all making below average salaries for a psychiatrist. Compensation structure is strange as well and includes an extremely low base salary. Also they have a very broad non-compete.

Check Glassdoor and read the reviews yourself.

 

[forchinet121]

I have interviewed with all of the major telepsych companies in the last month, my general summary is they are all a scam and the evidence is above explained by Smallbird, they are literally stealing half of your money each year which amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars when compared to the AVERAGE hospital employed job..if you think hospitals are bad, welcome to private equity telepsychiatry companies

 

[ksharp33]

I have interviewed with all of the major telepsych companies in the last month, my general summary is they are all a scam and the evidence is above explained by Smallbird, they are literally stealing half of your money each year which amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars when compared to the AVERAGE hospital employed job..if you think hospitals are bad, welcome to private equity telepsychiatry companies

Exactly. It's sad seeing psychiatrists, especially new grads, being taken advantage of by these PE-backed companies.

 

[allantois]

I wouldn't be mad about the DEA closing the lid on those places

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

Talkiatry appears to overpromise and under-deliver. I have spoken to several colleagues who did work with them and no one is hitting the advertised salary range. They are all making below average salaries for a psychiatrist. Compensation structure is strange as well and includes an extremely low base salary. Also they have a very broad non-compete.

Check Glassdoor and read the reviews yourself.

Damn yeah those recent Glassdoor reviews are rough.

 

[yoloswagpoop42069]

What about TimelyMD?

Has anyone heard anything about TimelyMD? I've been looking at it as a potential part-time option to supplement my in-person job on the weekends or in person.

They are for the college student population, no controlled medication prescribing, operate without insurance (contract with the university to provide care for students), $200 for new patients from what I know so far.

 

[Dr. Pookie]

What about TimelyMD?

Has anyone heard anything about TimelyMD? I've been looking at it as a potential part-time option to supplement my in-person job on the weekends or in person.

They are for the college student population, no controlled medication prescribing, operate without insurance (contract with the university to provide care for students), $200 for new patients from what I know so far.

Just an n=1 here, but I onboarded with TimelyMD after graduating residency to supplement my PP income (at least that was the idea). Completed all the onboarding, set my availability, etc. I went 2 months without a single patient from them. I was too busy working on my own PP to care, but I eventually reached out and they told me that their need was not as great as they thought, but If I hung around a bit longer they had new contracts in the pipeline that would fill me up "in no time." I "resigned" that same day, although I don't know if you could even call it that, seeing as how they didn't give me a single patient.

Blessing in disguise though, as PP income much better anyway.

 

[yoloswagpoop42069]

Just an n=1 here, but I onboarded with TimelyMD after graduating residency to supplement my PP income (at least that was the idea). Completed all the onboarding, set my availability, etc. I went 2 months without a single patient from them. I was too busy working on my own PP to care, but I eventually reached out and they told me that their need was not as great as they thought, but If I hung around a bit longer they had new contracts in the pipeline that would fill me up "in no time." I "resigned" that same day, although I don't know if you could even call it that, seeing as how they didn't give me a single patient.

Blessing in disguise though, as PP income much better anyway.

😂😂😂 good to know. I asked the representative if they had any issues filling up. She said no.

So that’s either a lie or things have changed. Unfortunately I need a side gig for evenings or weekends and can’t find anything else tele wise in the states I’m currently licensed.

 

[Merovinge]

It's going to be a rude awakening working for these companies for residents or doctors used to regular administrator who are already bad and don't understand health care, but at least are driving to work at the same place you are each day (for those working in-person). Working with VC/PE run healthcare is going to make Joe Blow annoying CEO MBA look like a savior.

 

[yoloswagpoop42069]

It's going to be a rude awakening working for these companies for residents or doctors used to regular administrator who are already bad and don't understand health care, but at least are driving to work at the same place you are each day (for those working in-person). Working with VC/PE run healthcare is going to make Joe Blow annoying CEO MBA look like a savior.

A friend worked for Talkiatry, she hated it for all the reasons listed above. I am avoiding Talkiatry, Array Behavioral, Done, and Cerebral like the plague for reasons listed above.

TimelyMD seems to be the only decent one I've seen so far, we will see how it pans out though.

 

[the5thelement]

I spoke to the "talkiatry recruiter" who in a thick new york accent bragged about newly minted psychiatrists making 400K/year within 3 months of starting. Sounded very baity/switchy and left a bad taste in the mouth. No thanks.

 

[Ironspy]

I knew a colleague who worked at talkiatry. Very busy with opaque compensation structure

 

[G Sheb]

I haven't taken a job with them, but Genoa sounds pretty legit. I've heard good things from others before.
The offers I've seen were in rural clinics with around $200/hour, 1099 and support staff depending on the particular clinic.
That is not different from the CMHC models out there and sound like an appropriate gig with all the pos of telepsych.

IMO telepsych is most enticing if you want to work with an underserved population in a rural area. The trick however is making sure you have good support staff and that will probably vary on the clinic rather than the company.

 

[ksharp33]

PGY4. Feeling discouraged as the only jobs I can find anywhere are at CMHC (socioeconomic nightmare patients, dangerous area, EMR is awful-I know from experience) and LifeStance (sad salary, bad noncompete, worried about poor office support, heard EMR is also bad). Can't find any other jobs in desired geographic area. Cold called a private practice and heard nothing back yet.

What geographical area? Maybe someone here can give you recommendations.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

PGY4. Feeling discouraged as the only jobs I can find anywhere are at CMHC (socioeconomic nightmare patients, dangerous area, EMR is awful-I know from experience) and LifeStance (sad salary, bad noncompete, worried about poor office support, heard EMR is also bad). Can't find any other jobs in desired geographic area. Cold called a private practice and heard nothing back yet.

If you're talking about pure telepsych at this point, it may be that there aren't many places are really trying to hire new people for telepsych only. Also going to severely limit your ability to prescribed controlled substances once the public health emergency expires in May, which is a big sticking point for psychiatry.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Will the return of Ryan Haight lead to terminating many psychiatrists from these PE companies? We only have a few weeks left I think.

 

[allantois]

Will the return of Ryan Haight lead to terminating many psychiatrists from these PE companies? We only have a few weeks left I think.

May 11

 

[littlefred]

Will the return of Ryan Haight lead to terminating many psychiatrists from these PE companies? We only have a few weeks left I think.

I can link if you guys want but I saw an ad from Done, recruiting Private Practice Psychiatrists to basically continue seeing their patients.

So they will send you ADHD pts to your office, you prescribe and continue prescribing but under Done.
Why would anyone in private practice want anything to do with Done? You already have your setup why add a middle man to your mix to get less money for something you could do yourself.

Excuse the dad joke...

I think they're Done.

 

[allantois]

I can link if you guys want but I saw an ad from Done, recruiting Private Practice Psychiatrists to basically continue seeing their patients.

So they will send you ADHD pts to your office, you prescribe and continue prescribing but under Done.
Why would anyone in private practice want anything to do with Done? You already have your setup why add a middle man to your mix to get less money for something you could do yourself.

Excuse the dad joke...

I think they're Done.

you mean their non-ADHD patients lol

If you look in their LinkedIn page their patient support is in the Philippines..

 

[forchinet121]

So they’re not going to waive Ryan and let people continue to do telehealth?

 

[littlefred]

So they’re not going to waive Ryan and let people continue to do telehealth?

Doesn't look like it. The end of the declaration of public health emergency will be in May. The only medication that will survive the Ryan Haight Act conditions will probably be buprenorphine given the opioid epidemic.

It's literally become a free for all with a lot of unscrupulous prescribers giving out scheduled drugs like candy. Good medicine can still be practiced without controlled medications. If you need controlled meds then you probably have to go over some hurdles.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

So they’re not going to waive Ryan and let people continue to do telehealth?

Highly doubt it, the waiver was dependent on the public health emergency being continuously extended at this point and there's not a lot of political will to keep indefinitely extending it.

 

[the5thelement]

I haven't taken a job with them, but Genoa sounds pretty legit. I've heard good things from others before.
The offers I've seen were in rural clinics with around $200/hour, 1099 and support staff depending on the particular clinic.
That is not different from the CMHC models out there and sound like an appropriate gig with all the pos of telepsych.

IMO telepsych is most enticing if you want to work with an underserved population in a rural area. The trick however is making sure you have good support staff and that will probably vary on the clinic rather than the company.

Add Genoa to the list of "Do not work with" companies. I spoke to a "recruiter" who really was clueless. She said that she will be sending more info about 2 opportunities "within 24 hours". Sadly nothing 5 days later. If you are going to take 50% of the money earned by me at least be honest and competent in your work.

 

[G Sheb]

Add Genoa to the list of "Do not work with" companies. I spoke to a "recruiter" who really was clueless. She said that she will be sending more info about 2 opportunities "within 24 hours". Sadly nothing 5 days later. If you are going to take 50% of the money earned by me at least be honest and competent in your work.

lol. I had a similar experience. I emailed to follow up, but then they actually replied promptly and scheduled an interview with the clinic.
But I saw other signs of unprofessional behavior, so I'm like, nope, thank you. I'm very satisfied with my gig.
I'm not sure if this is an indictment for the whole company as clinically the gig wasn't bad at all. They pay for no shows, 60 min initial eval, 30 minute followups, you have 30 min admin/day, malpractice with tail included. Rate was $200/hour.
My experience in general with locums recruiters and non-MDs is that they really aren't the most professional or good communicators.

 

[littlefred]

lol. I had a similar experience. I emailed to follow up, but then they actually replied promptly and scheduled an interview with the clinic.
But I saw other signs of unprofessional behavior, so I'm like, nope, thank you. I'm very satisfied with my gig.
I'm not sure if this is an indictment for the whole company as clinically the gig wasn't bad at all. They pay for no shows, 60 min initial eval, 30 minute followups, you have 30 min admin/day, malpractice with tail included. Rate was $200/hour.
My experience in general with locums recruiters and non-MDs is that they really aren't the most professional or good communicators.

I always wonder what the general consensus is, taking 200 per hour on a remote/telejob that is not ideal or 100-125 per hour for an ideal job at a great location.

Some job postings out there are posting the above ranges and I honestly believe those jobs will always get filled for reasons unknown to me. Some of us undervalue our work by a lot.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

My experience in general with locums recruiters and non-MDs is that they really aren't the most professional or good communicators.

If you look at some of these recruiters linkedin profiles they're hilarious. Like graduated from college last year with a degree in communications and now they're a "healthcare recruiter with Weatherby looking to help connect providers and improve mental health care coverage lol!!!"

 

[allantois]

Weatherby

They really are clueless 99% of the time; even the ones with mental health background. I am not even nice about it anymore

 

[surfguy84]

Why not look for work with a group that does tele? This as opposed to a big tele corporation.

 

[SmallBird]

There are so many better options. I'm excited to be adding in a small outpatient clinic focused on a specialty area of interest to my current job (7on/7off inpatient). It is 100% tele unless I want to see a patient in person, then I can use an office in the primary care building. $67/rvu, volume/time spent is totally up to me. 24/7 crisis centers in the system for any after hours issues. Not sure why anybody would do these big tele companies.

 

[forchinet121]

There are so many better options. I'm excited to be adding in a small outpatient clinic focused on a specialty area of interest to my current job (7on/7off inpatient). It is 100% tele unless I want to see a patient in person, then I can use an office in the primary care building. $67/rvu, volume/time spent is totally up to me. 24/7 crisis centers in the system for any after hours issues. Not sure why anybody would do these big tele companies.

This is part of a big hospital system?

 

[Desired Member]

If you're talking about pure telepsych at this point, it may be that there aren't many places are really trying to hire new people for telepsych only. Also going to severely limit your ability to prescribed controlled substances once the public health emergency expires in May, which is a big sticking point for psychiatry.

No I don't care about whether it's pure telepsych. I should have posted under a general job thread.

 

[Desired Member]

What geographical area? Maybe someone here can give you recommendations.

Midwest. I'm going to repost on a more general job thread