Finance: Beyond Reimbursement
Tools to fix your payer mix
By Bob Redling Savvy stock players know that high management costs and overhead expenses can eat away at an investment’s potential return. Determining these variables can help them decide whether one investment might be a better match for their goals than another. So why not take an investor’s approach to determining which payers you contract with?
Unfortunately, many physicians just look at a payer’s promised fee schedule (the return) when signing up for or renewing a contract. They give little thought to the costs required to collect that return. A payer’s policies and practices can significantly add to your practice’s overhead expenses.
“That juicy fee schedule won’t be worth much if the payer always denies your claims and makes your staff spend hours and hours doing follow-up work just to get payment,” says Atlanta-based medical practice consultant Elizabeth Woodcock. Continued...
