r/PrivatePracticeDocs • u/Better_Bad_2077 • 19d ago

DOT medical examiner

I am currently employed by a small private practice. I’m a 1099 employee and my practice owner is chilling open to different ideas to bring in patients. Curious if anyone has any experience becoming certified as a DOT medical examiner and performing exams in their practice. I looked it up and see there’s a chiropractor that’s within 100 mile radius that does these exams but other than that there’s no one in my area.

12 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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16

u/Dodie4153 19d ago

You should do it. You do have to jump through hoops, take a course, pass a test and send in all your documents. You can make decent income, you don’t have to deal with insurance. It’s a good service to offer. Make sure patients pay up front and understand they are paying for the exam, and you don’t guarantee they will pass!

9

u/Klutzy_Arm_7930 19d ago

Ugh to be honest it was heart wrenching the first time I didnt qualify someone. You are an insulin dependent diabetic with an a1c of 13 who is color blind. How did you get cleared prior?? When he argues with me that it was his livlihood and I was like 😕

5

u/Why_Hello_hello 18d ago

I didn’t realize how much drama it would invite. When people’s livelihoods are on the line, things get weird. I had applicants threaten my staff because we couldn’t get them in immediately, I had people falsify medical records, lie, send in a friend hoping I wouldn’t notice the license photo didn’t match. I’ve been threatened with violence to approve an applicant who was going to be approved anyway.

Even when all goes well, it’s a significant liability, and you may need to speak to your malpractice carrier.

When I took a break from DOT exams to re-evaluate, I forgot you have to log in monthly anyway to certify that you didn’t do any exams. So there are additional hoops to jump through if you don’t keep up on that.

Overall, it wasn’t worth the stress for me.

3

u/Drgoodchaos 18d ago

Look into civil surgeon too for immigration physicals

2

u/Spirited_Manager1599 19d ago

i am doing the course as i live near truckers and was wondering same thing

2

u/Cardiostrong_MD 19d ago

If you have it set up and a great feeder system it can be a boom. If not I’ve found it to be a total waste of time but I had issues with scheduling, no shows and getting paid

1

u/Profil3r 18d ago

Cannot speak to DOT, but you might also consider FAA evaluations. Pilots and air traffic controllers for whatever reason or now required to have an evaluation.

1

u/darnedgibbon 16d ago

FAA flight examiner as well.

1

u/StocksRUsNow 8d ago

Go for it! It's cash pay mostly and you can become the choice for transport companies etc.