Healthcare changes are coming, whether Doctors like it or
not! Obamacare is here and the changes are just beginning. These changes are
going to be effecting everyone in this country. Like it or not, healthcare
reform is here. One thing is for show, things are going to change! Doctors in
this country have been seeing their incomes drop and paperwork going up. I am
always an optimist, however, I have never seen the government get involved in
anything and cause less paperwork and more money. I can be assured that there
will be more paperwork and probably a little less money for doctors.
Doctors have seen decreasing incomes over the past few
years, even longer. The so-called Mercedes 80’s are long long gone! I wasn’t
even ever around to experience it. Well, what does this mean. No one really
knows what healthcare reform will bring. Healthcare reform will add many new
patients to the market, making more patients available to the average doctor.
The question will be, how will the reimbursement be, and how much work will it
be. In my experience with certain
insurances run by states or federal government, pay tends to be much lower and
paperwork much higher. I stopped accepting Medicaid in my office years ago
because it was costing me more to file claims and do paperwork than it was
paying!
This type of scenario will probably be pretty likely in the
future. Some of the new federal rules will require more paperwork and less
reimbursement. It will be a difficult decision to decide which ones to accept
and which to not. Doctors assume they don’t have a particular cost with each
patient, but they are wrong. Every patient costs money, whether it is just
doctor and staff time, wear and tear on your equipment, and many procedures
have fixed costs, supplies, medications, etc. It is not free to treat a
patient. You should try to figure out your costs per patient visit, this is not
always possible, but it can be. Figure it out, or guestimate the best you can.
So, what are doctors going to do. Things will change and you
better change as well. The paperwork will be burdensome, and you better figure
it out. If it matches the trends we are seeing now, there will be more. The big
thing with these forms, paperwork, etc, is that someone probably already did
it. Why re-invent the wheel? The appeal letter you need, office form you need,
letter of discipline you need, someone probably already wrote it! Why would you
spend hours fixing it yourself? There are two things you are allowed to do in
your practice. 1. Treat Patients. 2. Work on your business. Don’t do anything
else.
I
can say this, of course, because I was a terrible offender. I would spend days
working on a PowerPoint for presentation, writing an appeal letter, staff
disciplinary letter, something. I spent many hours on this, and I did it well.
However, it was not a great way to spend time. But, since I was good at it,
everyone always asked me for my paperwork. I didn’t mind helping friends, but I
figured there had to be another way. I couldn’t find anything, so I decided I
would have to make something. So, I had a web developer make me site that would
allow docs to buy, sell, and trade paperwork, spreadsheets, PowerPoint’s, just about anything you would need. The site is called
Docs Pay Docs and it could change your practice.
