Day 20 1 Change

If you could change one thing about your life what would it be?

I think I'd rather focus on a possible thing I could change currently instead of something that happened in the past.

I'd like to drop a couple of the insurance plans that I accept. Accepting insurance plans is a double edged sword. Yes they give you access to patients but there are numerous disadvantages to accepting them.

1) Some plans widely vary in what they pay. Some pay $150 for an exam, but others pay $40. Talk about feeling devalued in the same service you just provided. Patients who possess the worst plans think they have great insurance. Its great for them but the providers take a huge discount. A lot of the plans do not raise their payments either. I've gone ten years on some plans and not seen a $1 raise. The cost of doing business (overhead) never goes down each year. If you make a per dollar rate an hour think about working for $20 one hour, then working for $6 the next hour. You won't be as motivated to work. Not many TMS therapists I've seen on here accept insurance.

2) Constant fear of audits, and contractual obligations. Usually the plans that pay the worst audit the most lol. Say you get paid $10k over the course of the year, and the insurance company finds a minor mistake on 6 out of 10 charts. They assume 60% of all your charts are wrong, and they'll try to recoup 60% of their payments or $6k. Not to mention the fact you can be thrown in jail.

3) The resources it takes to verify insurances spending 10-15 minutes (secretary) on the phone to see about coverage. Thankfully most can be done online, but some still have to be verified by phone. Submitting the claim, and then waiting 15-60 days to get paid. If you don't get paid then you have to hunt the patient down and argue with them that they are responsible for the bill. I'd say 50% of people pay if you're lucky.

What could I do make this change?

I work next to an optical that encourages acceptance of all the insurances. Therefore I'm thinking about dropping down to 4 days a week in my main office, and dropping the 2 worst insurances (Eyemed, and VSP). Then I could pick up a different location and accept mostly cash patients or only take the very best insurance plans. This office is about 30 minutes away so it would be a little bit of a drive. The other main option would to be to join the military for optometry. This probably isn't very feasible since we'd have to relocate a lot more.

3 things I'm grateful for today
1) Coffee
2) My AWANA (Approved workmen are not ashamed) boys tonight at church. Helping them to memorize scripture.
3) My journal

 

My family doctor dropped me because I am so healthy. He hasn't made much money out of me, except an annual checkup.
I thought doctors cared about their patients.

I write and edit for a book publisher and some months he pays me nothing. It's a great life.

 

I agree in the caring of patients but insurance companies will drive a practitioner crazy. They also give patients a false belief of what is and is not covered. It can be mentally exhausting explaining benefits of what we can offer. Sometimes I feel like I just want to practice what I'm trained for and eliminate the middle man.

I'm glad you're a healthy man Walt. You always make me smile

 

I'd rather smile than scream.

What keeps me going and happy is 1) my dog. 2) Besides my work for a book publisher I write books of my own and am currently researching and writing one that has good possibilities. Its kept me so busy I haven't watched more than a half hour of television in weeks.