Now
that we will no longer be contracturally involved with any insurance
company as of March 1st, (Thank God!) we will be able to simplify our
fees, and also make them more fair. When insurance companies are
involved, they require a certain fee for a certain type of coded visit,
no matter how long that visit took. Of course what they paid us had
nothing to do with those fees, but they were required anyway. They paid
much less than the fee. So non-insured patients were paying more than
insurance companies were for the same service, and attempts to fix that
inequality would have been illegal, believe it or not. Further, a
patients who required less time had to pay as much as patients who
required more time, for the same type of visit. The absolute unfairness
of this has driven me crazy for many years. Now that I will no longer
be involved with those companies, I can fix this. So starting March
1st, my fee for a visit will be $300 per hour, measured in five minute
intervals. Thus, a 15 minute visit will cost $75 and a typical 30
minute visit will cost $150. The additional fees for lab tests and pap
smears will remain as they are. That averages out to about the same
that it was with the previous system, but this is infinitely more fair,
so that patients who now require a short amount of time will pay less
than those who take a lot of time. Of course, I will continue to code
out the superbill receipt in the manner required by your insurance so
that they will hopefully reimburse you appropriately. ALSO, SOME OF
MY BLUE CROSS PATIENTS ERRONEOUSLY THINK THAT THEY CAN'T SEE ME BECAUSE
I WILL NO LONGER BE TAKING THEIR INSURANCE. THIS IS INCORRECT! Most of
my Blue Cross patients have the type of policy that allows you to go
out of network and see a non-participating doctor. They will reimburse
you for part of what you spend out of their network. So if you choose
to continue to see me, we will expect you to pay our fee and in turn we
will give you the superbill that you can then turn in to Blue Cross for
them to reimburse you. I doubt that they will reimburse you the entire
amount, but I suspect they will reimburse at least half. At this point,
I have no way of knowing what they will pay. A few of my Blue Cross
patients have a plan that does not allow this, but most do. SO PLEASE
DON'T THINK THAT I WANT TO GET RID OF MY BLUE CROSS PATIENTS, I JUST
WANT TO GET RID OF BLUE CROSS!
