How it Works: Getting Paid That Is.

Excellent post from "The Independent Urologist"and comments that follow--this truly captures all that surrounds a single visit...this is absolutely unique to the American healthcare system--and hits to the heart of one of the most demoralizing aspects of practice for many of my collagues...

When you go to a restaurant, you order the food, eat, the bill comes, and you pay for the meal either with cash or credit card. If you use an accountant, they do their work, send you a bill, and you send them a check. If you purchase a sweater on-line, you supply the merchant with your credit card or paypal information, hit submit, and then the merchant processes the order. In general, the process is pretty straightforward and transparent.

In most medical practices, the process is much more complex, less transparent, and more open to error.

In medical practice, from the instant a patient calls to make an appointment, a cascade of events gets initiated that results several weeks to several months later in a payment into your bank account.

Here's the steps that follow the "I'd like to make an appointment with Dr Schoor" phone call:

(Click on the link above for the next steps in the 6 armed algorithm and all the steps that follow below each arm...you will probably be surprised)