Benefits and fees – BIG difference
The Difference This issue came up recently with a consultant surgeon. How are benefits and fees accounted for against a patient's package? Benefits Consider the total benefits payable under a...
Price is what you pay; value is what you get
Working for a consultant surgeon is fun. However, since one particular private medical insurance company decided to outsource their help desk or their "advisors" late last year, there has been a...
Finish a task completely
I work in set 45-minute time slots. That does not mean everything has to be completed in 45 minutes or less. It means that I work solidly for 45 minutes. Each and every time. Why? Personally I can't...
More Patients isn’t always the right answer
Sometimes, getting more patients isn't always the right answer. The right answer is to get paid for the ones you have already seen. Over the last three months MHM has been working very closely with...
More Patients: as simple as answering the phone.
One of my major bugbears with medical practice is the ability to answer the phone. Sounds simple. It is! Yet many practices do not answer the phone. Instead, the call goes to an answering machine...
Not a guarantee of payment
Consider when the patient has contacted his/her insurance company and been issued with a pre-authorization number. This does not mean, the insurance company will accept your charge. This happened to...
You want to charge more?
START IN THE RIGHT PLACE THEN! A common mistake made by a private consultant surgeon is undercharging for their work. This is alarming when most consultant surgeons wish to increase their fees. How...
Starting a Private Practice – consultation fees
Two consultant surgeons apply for recognition by insurance companies. They have been told by various insurance companies that the fees for their initial and follow up consultations are lower than...
Fee change – always make sure you use the most up to date fee
It is depressing the number of times I hear potential clients criticizing insurance companies. In my experience the reasons normally cited are incorrect. Far from it. I've lost track how often I've...
Who is responsible for collecting an excess?
A question, which was asked recently at a private practice seminar MHM were presenting at. Interestingly the question was asked by a consultant surgeon who had started his/her private practice two...
What do you do with your time
There are only 24 hours in a single day. Yet many times, you hear the comment "there aren't enough hours in the day" But that raises the question "what are you actually doing in those hours? More...
The best way not to get paid
It's amazing the number of times I see this. So the best way to guarantee you won't get paid is? Not to raise an invoice. Let me give you an example.. An MHM client held one of his twice-weekly...