Small Business: Doctors going broke
- Thread starter Steve Williams
- Start date
Only reason a doc would turn a patient away is of he is not a provider for the parient's plan (unless of course he wants to pay out of plan)
Consider this......
Before I retired I was in a busy group OBG practice of 6 docs and a nurse practitioner. We were the busiest group at our hospital doing 70-80 deliveries per month. People felt we were rolling in the dough based on our huge office and our presence at the hospital. We had far less hassle when a patient had a PPO vs an HMO. As a busy gynecology group we were using countless IUD's (intrauterine devices), administering a lot of Depo Provera (also for birth control). Prior to our getting wise and being good guy doctors by buying the IUD's and/or DepoProvera for the patient and waiting for insurance payment we were able to recoup our costs plus a small service fee.Then the insurance companies began paying less to the doctor than what these actually cost. Pretty soon we were losing money and our only way out was to give the patient a prescription for her IUD or Depo Provera. The patient objected because they say it is a covered benefit in their plan. We explained that we could not stay in business to buy something and then receive less than what we paid. Some understood and others didn't but they did go and get the prescription filled and brought it back to our office for us to administer.
Compared to the cost of these oncology chemotherapeutic drugs my stuff was small potato and I can understand the oncologists going bankrupt because they owe several million dollars in drugs used to save patients' lives that insurance companies decide how much they are going to pay regardless of what you paid
Before I retired I was in a busy group OBG practice of 6 docs and a nurse practitioner. We were the busiest group at our hospital doing 70-80 deliveries per month. People felt we were rolling in the dough based on our huge office and our presence at the hospital. We had far less hassle when a patient had a PPO vs an HMO. As a busy gynecology group we were using countless IUD's (intrauterine devices), administering a lot of Depo Provera (also for birth control). Prior to our getting wise and being good guy doctors by buying the IUD's and/or DepoProvera for the patient and waiting for insurance payment we were able to recoup our costs plus a small service fee.Then the insurance companies began paying less to the doctor than what these actually cost. Pretty soon we were losing money and our only way out was to give the patient a prescription for her IUD or Depo Provera. The patient objected because they say it is a covered benefit in their plan. We explained that we could not stay in business to buy something and then receive less than what we paid. Some understood and others didn't but they did go and get the prescription filled and brought it back to our office for us to administer.
Compared to the cost of these oncology chemotherapeutic drugs my stuff was small potato and I can understand the oncologists going bankrupt because they owe several million dollars in drugs used to save patients' lives that insurance companies decide how much they are going to pay regardless of what you paid
We had those hot female reps detailing us on Viagra all the time. Now how do you say "expectation bias?"
We had those hot female reps detailing us on Viagra all the time. Now how do you say "expectation bias?"
Did they offer a free personal clinical trial in exchange for a large order?
Looks can be deceiving. Many docs are not good financial managers, they just go to work and spend money. Some don't even know what they make until their accountants tell them, and they are easy targets for swindlers (who appeal to their vanity) and embezzlers (who appear to be the perfect employee).
I imagine there are many doctors who could go to the brink of bankruptcy and not even know it until they are told, with everything looking good on the surface. They have to maintain appearances for the sake of patients etc.
Reading this is very disturbing to say the least I just hope here in Australia and Victoria in particular never change to this style of health care. I have had the unfortunate circumstace to use our health system twice in the recent past ( due to near fatal accidents ) and can only say that here the care provided is nothing short of fantastic, I have full private health cover but in reality in the public system you get the same care regardless.
It is sad to see that you are at the mercy of the insurers and purely finacial decisions determine your fate that's just wrong! How did a country like the US allow things to get into such a situation?
It is sad to see that you are at the mercy of the insurers and purely finacial decisions determine your fate that's just wrong! How did a country like the US allow things to get into such a situation?
We had those hot female reps detailing us on Viagra all the time. Now how do you say "expectation bias?"
Yes and call a doc if your expectation bias lasts more than four hrs
Yes and call a doc if your expectation bias lasts more than four hrs
Hmm, innuendos, huh??? OK - http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/06/10009107-penis-tattoo-gives-guy-permanent-erection
Consolidation is supposed to bring efficiencies and thus reduce costs but it appears that consolidation in this case is used as a means to wipe out competition and increase costs.
Like most all businesses, the money is flowing to the top. The administrator of a large hospital here is said to have pocketed a $12 million bonus for the second half of 2010. That's not salary or other benefits, that's just the bonus. Meanwhile, the govt. and insurance sectors slowly phlebotomize the MDs and midlevels. The new "way" is to have nurses have the power to make policy.
Enough said, while my BP is still chartable.
Lee
Enough said, while my BP is still chartable.
Lee
And I'd guess that I've seen very few Medicaid patients in the clincs I'm talking about. But personally, I'm not talking about Medicaid at all. The comparisons I'm making are between what the providers bill and what Medicare pays. The complaints I'm referring to are about how Medicare doesn't pay enough to cover the care. And what I see defies all of that.
Tim
Lee you are absolutely correct. The CEO of my hospital is a nurse who makes north of several million dollars per year and has only condescending attitudes re her medical staff
Unfortunately the answer to that question is "yes"
Catastrophic illnesses or what we called "total body thumps" in an uninsured or underinsured patient can wipe them out financially
How truly sad.
A long time ago I had the opportunity to move to our Head Office in Florida, but it never materialized for 2 reasons. One, my wife and I at the time were in the process of trying to adopt a child, and had already been on the waiting for 8 years through the Catholic Children's Aid Society. We weren't prepared, despite a fairly significant opportunity to my career, to sacrifice 8 years of waiting for something we wanted more than anything else in the world. The second part was the healthcare system in the U.S. and the associated monthly costs for insurance that I had come to hear about. Although I would have been covered through my employer, I started to think into the future and thought "what if, my next employer doesn't offer me this benifit?". Could I maintain the monthly insurance premiums in such a scenario? This really scared me, so I politely declined the opportunity.
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