Taking payment by card over the telephone
Banks are desperate to phase out cheques. This is due to the cost of processing a cheque from the bank's point of view. Yet the decision was taken not to, as planned, phase out cheques completely by...
Starting a Private medical Practice
Recently I was reading an article in a business management magazine. The article highlighted some of the challenges faced by small business owners when they start. But it could also have been...
Know what you can and can’t charge for
There are numerous occasions when a consultant can charge for a follow-up consultation when performing minor surgery. But it is important to understand which private medical insurance companies will...
Putting a plaster over the problem
A group of surgeons I know is having problems getting paid by insurance companies. Not just an individual insurance company but all insurance companies. The practice manager claimed there...
£4,250 worth of work. And she won’t see a penny of it most likely
It is common in my world to be presented with a number of unpaid invoices. The remit is to go get paid for them. That I can do. But it depends? If they were raised in the first place that is. If...
Why won’t YOUR patients just pay their excess?
Ever thought what is the most often quoted reason for non-payment by a patient of an excess? The same reason is quoted over and over again. It's not "I haven’t got the money”. It's not “I didn’t...
It’s not just Orthopods who may be denied a fee
I'm used to insurance companies declining to pay a consultation charge for an Orthopaedic Surgeon within 10 days of surgery. The reality is that this does not impact only on Orthopods. I've seen it...
Should you publish your fees?
Flip the question on its head. WOULD YOU BUY SOMETHING WITHOUT KNOWING HOW MUCH IT COST? Would you pass over your debit card details without knowing how much is going to be charged to it? 99.9% of...
I’m a Virtual Cheater
Keep it quiet but I'm a virtual cheater! First of all, I'm a virtual business. I'm not physically based in my client's offices. In some cases, I'm hundreds of miles away so I can't walk down the...
What’s in it for me?
I'm a contractor. I provide an outsourced service for my clients. I run my business to generate an income for me. Notice all three of those sentences started with the word "I"? But when I (sic) go...
Don’t promise to call someone back and then forget
We all hear that many times during the day. It's a pain but sometimes it literally is a case of not being able to provide an answer there and then. In itself that is not a problem. Where it IS a...
Right enough to be dangerously wrong
There are only 24 hours in a day. All of my guys are incredibly busy. I'm amazed at the volume of work they get through in a single day. They are either on-call, doing a ward round or in theatre....