A Scottish colleague called me last week. A case of “can I pick your brains for two minutes?”
What’s the problem?
I’m always happy to take such calls for many times I have called others with precisely the same request. My colleague was confused as to what could or could not be charged alongside a consultation fee. Specifically, the consultant surgeon she worked for was administering injections at a consultation and she thought she could not charge a consultation fee AND a fee for the injection. She thought this would be a clear case of unbundling.
Except she was wrong.
Her consultant was perfectly entitled to charge a separate fee for the injection.
Damage Limitation
A quick analysis of the outpatient consultations where my colleague had NOT charged since January 2015 revealed she had UNDERCHARGED by a total of £837 so far this year. She had however and quite rightly charged for every single consultation – failure to do otherwise is the fastest way to lose the private consultant’s money – but had shown on her invoice the fee for the appointment alongside a ZERO fee for the injection. In the case of one single insurance company she had failed to charge in respect of 9 separate patients £450 worth of injections (9 @ £50 each)
The bottom line is that if she undercharged injections by £837 in the first 6 months of 2015, should she continue throughout 2015 she would lose her consultant £1,674 for the entire year.
How did I know the answer to this one? MHM has clients in the same specialism as my colleague’s consultant. Also, MHM checks fees every 90 days with all insurance companies for the rules of what can and cannot be charged, what is bundled and what is deemed unbundled change. Plus, most importantly, applicable fees alter!
How many of you check what the correct fee is? Not just when you set the practice up but on a regular basis?
But I can’t help but wonder how many consultants undercharge – are you one of them but don’t realise it?
For more details email: pete@medicalhealthcaremanagement.co.uk