If a neurosurgeon has there own private practice where do they go once called in for surgery?

Question

and what does owning your own private practice involve? If they own there own practice are they considered there own boss?

Answer 1

They have privileges at certain hospitals to perform surgery. The hospital charges for their services and so does the doctor. Yes, if they are in private practice, they are their own boss.

Answer 2

Neurosurgeons typically cover a hospital's emergency room by being "on call" for an emergency surgery. Sometimes this is required just to be "on staff" of the hospital, which is necessary to do elective surgery there.

If the neurosurgeon has their own private practice - as someone has answered, the hospital would charge for being a hospital patient (IVs and the room, etc.) and the neurosurgeon would charge for performing the surgery.

Owning one's own practice means being one's own boss AND...:
Buying malpractice insurance (pricey for things like neurosurgery and obstetrics)

Hiring staff to answer the phone, put patients in rooms, type dictation, send out bills

Being compliant with OSHA and HIPAA laws

Getting a partner or someone that covers the practice while the neurosurgeon is on vacation or at a conference.

Lots of work but lots of reward in seeing people get better.

Answer 3

The relationship between hospitals and doctors seems widely misunderstood. Even in state-owned public hospitals, as often as not the doctors are members of a group, rather than employees of the hospital. Many specialties need hospitals, and hospitals certainly need medical staffs, but it's a symbiotic relationship, not usually an employee-employer relationship, and most doctors are either their own boss or partners and possibly share-holders in a group, essentially the same thing. You'll note, for instance, that if you're hospitalized, you'll get a bill from the hospital, and you'll get separate bills from the treating doctor, and possibly several others, such as the radiologist who reads your x-rays and the anesthesiologist if you've had surgery.
Doctors in these situations do not necessarily have any garaunteed income from any source other than their patients, and they have considerable expenses in office rent, payroll, and other overhead, and that's why they can be testy about doing too much work on non-paying patients. There seems in our society to be a feeling that doctors shouldn't worry about being paid, as if their money were going to appear by magic somehow. Their office personel hope their paychecks are based on something more substantial.
In short, medicine in the US is a huge pile of tiny cottage shops, much like the local mom-and-pop stores that are disappearing in the rest of the economy.

Answer 4

The surgeon operates at a community hospital where he or she has privileges. To get privileges one has to fill a long application, have it scrutinized by the Credentials Committee and approved by the Administration and Executive Committee, not always easy

Owning your own practice involves hiring nurses, staff and other personnel, renting or buying an office, maintaining it, and seeing that bills are sent out and collected in a reasonable manner. Usually one hires an office manager or practice manager to do this as well as an outside accountant.
Yes, you can say you are your own boss, but you have many responsibilities, too. Nowadays starting in solo practice is less common because it takes a long time to get credentialed by hospitals, insurance companies, Medicare, etc., about 6 - 12 months. Going in with an established physician or group is more common. You get a salary until the credentials come through. But, you're low man on the totem pole for a while.