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If my PCP fails to cure my cold in 1 week, I don’t demand my money back for the visit.
This depresses me that even highly educated folks who have been through anatomy, physiology, etc think there is a way to cure a cold...
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This depresses me that even highly educated folks who have been through anatomy, physiology, etc think there is a way to cure a cold... -
I put it as an example of an unrealistic demand, sorry if the sarscam didnt come through.Comment
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That makes more sense, hahComment
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@Kambam,
Just save $20k per month for 15 yrs, invest conservatively at 5% returns and you are destined to achieve your goals. Using a 20% retirement savings rate, one only needs to make $1mm per year. That’s the plan. I don’t understand why so many people don’t choose that plan. It’s pretty sweet deal.
Gross-taxes-savings=spending. Plenty to spend on the spreadsheet!
I don't even gross $20K per month from medicine, let alone save that much. Maybe I am one of those who has to work and work.....Comment
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I answer hundreds of messages, review labs and radiology reports, and refill meds every week, all for free. I don’t believe any of it should be for free, but since I work for a large hospital owned group, it’s not my call. I think in general physicians do way too much work for free.Comment
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I haven't read all the comments but from what I understand it is illegal to offer some free care and charge others per Medicare/government regulation. To give charitable care I would have to setup a separate organization thanks to Uncle Sam.Comment
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I haven’t read all the comments but from what I understand it is illegal to offer some free care and charge others per Medicare/government regulation.
I think Medicare wants to get the lowest amount billed that you would bill any insurance, even if they would pay higher amount normally as per their fee schedule. So do some other insurances.
Hence we bill everyone 150% of medicare allowed rates and collect whatever we can. If any insurer ever pays that billed amount we realize that we could have gotten more and set the number higher after that for that billing code. Used to happen more often 20 years ago than now.
We bill everyone, including patients who cannot pay anything. And make some attempt to collect something short of sending to collections. The remaining balance is on the books for a long time, to be written off when I close my practice.Comment
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The remaining balance is on the books for a long time, to be written off when I close my practice.
Smart on two fronts.
First is if the patient needs to schedule an appointment down the road. Second, you can include it in the buy out price when you sell your practice. It's not worth writing off.Comment
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the guaranteed outcome is different than getting compensation for the service.
with all due respect, the rest of the human body is way more complex than the teeth.
I believe in providing services for free and we do have a volunteer clinic who provide free medical services to uninsured patients.
Lots of the physician do nonbillable work every day to help their patients.Comment
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Didn't read through all 4 pages of comments so someone might have beat me to it:
I get paid one lump fee for the entire prenatal care, labor, delivery, postpartum hospital rounding, and 6 weeks of outpatient postpartum care. Slightly more for a c-section vs vaginal delivery. It DOES NOT MATTER if the patient needs extra time or medical decision making or extra visits for whatever obstetric complications she's experienced. I get paid the same. It doesn't matter if she's in labor for 48 hours, or if her baby practically falls out right when she walks onto the unit, I get paid the same. Some insurances will even deny payment for triage visits on L&D- could you imagine if insurance refused to pay the ED because the PCP was already taking care of the issue?!? And heaven forbid I try to get paid for anything outside of the "usual" prenatal care (ex- yeast infections, UTIs, depression, etc)- I have to jump through a bunch of documentation hoops, only to have the pt get upset about a copay because she thought EVERYTHING was included in the global.
So yes, I do some work for free.Comment
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@Kambam,
Just save $20k per month for 15 yrs, invest conservatively at 5% returns and you are destined to achieve your goals. Using a 20% retirement savings rate, one only needs to make $1mm per year. That’s the plan. I don’t understand why so many people don’t choose that plan. It’s pretty sweet deal.
Gross-taxes-savings=spending. Plenty to spend on the spreadsheet!
20% of $1M is $16,666.67/month, not $20K/month.
A 20% savings rate is poor on even a low 7 figure annual household income. Most 7 income earners save more from what I've seen in their posts.Comment
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