Black Box Thinking – Learn From Your Mistakes
I love it when a mistake happens or when something goes wrong. It means I get the chance to look at what went wrong and more importantly WHY it went wrong. That means I can stop the same mistake...
Patient Paid On The Way Out
It’s great when a patient pays cash - on the way out he or she produces a roll of £10 notes and pays in full. It happened just before Christmas last year to an MHM client. Couple of items to...
The Hospital weren’t responsible either
MHM recently completed a project for a group of consultant surgeons. The project was to investigate why they were not getting paid. One insurance company was proving to be particularly troublesome....
Pre-Authorisation is NOT a guarantee of payment
Consider when the patient has contacted his/her insurance company and been issued with a pre-authorisation number. This does not mean, the insurance company will accept your charge. This happened to...
Why have you got so many unpaid self-funder invoices?
Ever thought what is the most often quoted reason for non-payment by a self funding patient? The same reason is quoted over and over again. It is not ‘I haven’t got the money” nor is it “I didn’t...
Pay Attention: it wasn’t a follow up consultation
Another day arrives and its time to invoice yesterday's clinics. Pay attention This is a good example of not paying sufficient attention to the clinic list. It almost cost the consultant £50 because...
The Insurance Company were wrong
Some insurance companies decline to accept invoices that are sent more than six months after the consultation or surgical episode. Fair enough, they should have been invoiced. BUT… A statement was...
Pre-authorisations – life span
Have you ever wondered how long a pre-authorisation number is valid? How many didn’t realise some insurance companies deem pre-auths have a life span? For example: I was asked to invoice for a...
Keep a copy of your data.
It’s amazing how many people don’t back their IT systems up so when they have an accident, they have a serious accident. One guy kept all his correspondence and notes on his laptop and only on his...
When Time Allows
What a truly awful expression! It was said to me recently by a medical secretary who was struggling to get all her invoicing done. Her belief was that she had only many hours in the day and it was...
Why are you in business?
Why are you in business? Many times, consultant surgeons have approached MHM because they, as consultant surgeons, don’t like asking patients for the money. And from a certain point of view, this is...
Do Something – show me the money
Anybody ever watched the movie “Jerry Maguire” and the immortal quote – show me the money! Clearly a guy I recently bumped into at a medical conference hadn’t. He was the Practice Manager for a...