Do you really understand the difference between benefits and fees?
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...
I should have charged him a fee
After a recent presentation, a private consultant surgeon telephoned me. He wanted all his fees checked. He heard about the MHM fee checker from a colleague who had attended the presentation so he...
I hate the expression “CASH FLOW”
For the simple reason, cash does not flow. Cash has to be managed. Cash Flow Around this time of year, I take calls from consultant surgeons who in view of their impending tax payments require an...
Why self funding patients can be so difficult
Most MHM clients ask us to look at self-funders when we start looking at the amount of money owed. Self-funding patients are a very common reason MHM is called in the first place. With the...
What is the most important piece of equipment in your practice?
In one single sentence the cornerstones of how a private consultant surgeon can achieve the financial reward for all his efforts. Ritual Every single time you perform an outpatient clinic the...
What’s it really like when you don’t get the right details?
What follows is absolutely real and why medical invoicing can be more troublesome than it need be. Ordinary Day One of my guys ran an outpatient clinic last Thursday The clinic list arrived with me...
Don’t say SHOULD to me!
Don't say - "all the details should be obtained". Say "all the details MUST be obtained". In other words, turn "should" into a must. But why is this so important? And why must you do it every day?...
Medical Coding – Revisited
I've been asked to revisit why coding is such a big part of medical invoicing. It is integral because without the correct code the chances of getting paid decrease. It is unlikely if you wish to...
How long should a consultation last?
An interesting question asked by a consultant starting her own private practice. And a question I couldn't really answer. What I could do was interrogate, based on a month's worth of outpatient...
10,000 Tweets a day!
I had a really illuminating conversation with a guy who called me recently. He ran a marketing business and was a specialist in using Twitter. Basically, the guy told me he'd been looking at my...
They don’t know what they don’t know
During a conversation with a friend of mine recently, I pointed out that our clients had some things in common. For one thing, they are consultant surgeons. And that means they are all supremely...
Establish the facts
I've been reading a really interesting book. The book goes into some detail on how decisions are made. What the process is? Which factors are included? Why are some factors excluded? When is a...