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...
How can you have a follow-up for a patient you haven’t seen before?
Monday morning comes round all too quickly and its time to invoice last week's clinics. Pay attention This is a good example of not paying sufficient attention to the clinic list. It almost cost the...
Open Referral – still no sale
I took a phone call from a friend recently who works for one of the major insurance providers. He asked why I was still against the principal of open referral. The benefits for both patients and...
They taken money OFF me!
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-pay in advance
A little over a year ago, a group of surgeons based in the south west of England contacted MHM. In an effort to reduce a large number of issues with outstanding self-funding debtors, they had...
Pre-authorisation number – a life of their own
Have you ever considered how long a pre-authorisation reference is live? Or how many didn’t realise some private medical insurance companies deem pre-auths do have a life span? For example: I...
Back your data up before you come to a complete stop
The potential for an accident It’s amazing how many people don’t back their IT systems up. When they have an accident, they have a serious accident. One guy kept all his correspondence and notes on...
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...