A Basic Mistake can cost you time. And money!
Basic Mistakes I was literally 70% through billing for a client’s clinic lists from last Friday. Eight separate patients and a mixture of initial and follow up consultations. All was going well...
Less haste. More Speed
I'm a really, really impatient person. I like everything done yesterday. Which is why I go incredibly slowly to start with. Do it once and do it right When I begin to raise invoices for a consultant...
Are you a Private Consultant Surgeon or an Entrepreneur?
At a medical conference recently a friend of mine was discussing the future of the private practice industry and what lay ahead. My colleague shared the view that the "younger" newly appointed...
Social Media – a very dangerous place to be
Following a recent blog regarding websites for the private surgeon, I was asked my view of social media eg Twitter or Facebook. Whilst I'm solid in my view a private surgeon should have a website,...
The art of excess and shortfalls
One of the major areas MHM is approached about is excess and shortfalls. As at March 2019, empirical evidence indicated 26% of all claims to private medical insurance companies are subject to an...
How to uplift a fee (yes it can be done)
The first thing to realise about increasing a fee is that you CANNOT increase a fee for all your surgical episodes nor can you increase a fee every time you perform a surgical episode. Having...
Who sets your consultation fees?
Who really sets your fees? Most consultants when they first start a private practice, consider how best they can set their fees. In reality, it is not the consultant who sets his or her own fees. It...
Unbundling – it will be spotted
Take, for example, a patient who requires an injection which may be performed by a private orthopaedic surgeon at an outpatient consultation. Thus you raise an invoice for, as an example,...
Rubbish in – Rubbish out
MHM recently completed a project for a hospital. The project was to investigate why the hospital was not getting paid. One insurance company was proving to be particularly troublesome. An analysis...
Pre-authorisation issued but actually declined
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...
There is an excess on your policy – the Oops Moment
Recently my stepdaughter received confirmation from her GP additional tests were required for an issue that had arisen. Both she and her Mum were somewhat disturbed that the waiting time for the...
Sexist but true. A gynaecologist’s website
My website designer related a really interesting tale to me this week. He designs websites for all sorts of businesses including consultant surgeons but was confused. He’d checked the traffic to all...