Why is it when the government needs money, Medicare is the first program they steal from? A law was passed last year regarding capping oxygen payments. Parts of this program I understand, it's foolish to continue paying for a machine that is easily paid for in its first year of service. The problem lies in service and portable oxygen. Once a patient has had oxygen service for 3 years we can no longer bill for those services, even if the patient continues with the service. This isn't bad if the patient is home bound and only using an oxygen concentrator at night. But if a patient is active and they are using several portable tanks a month, how are we to pay for that? Currently medicare has no answer. Another problem is what if a patient has been with a company for 2 1/2 years and has about 6 months left before their services cap, the patient is receiving horrible service from their current company and wants to switch to a better company. They can't. They are stuck with the poor service for as long as they are receiving oxygen services.
I'm not sure of a cure for this problem, but surely there's got to be a better plan.
Another problem, we want to stay the small locally owned company. Medicare has forced us into having to compete for future business. You figure a company needs to turn over their patient load every 3 years if they want to stay competitive. It's here that I just have to have faith in God and that he will provide for both us and our patients and just guide us on our way. Do I believe we offer the best service, I honestly do. Our referral sources have become something more, they have became friends that we are blessed to know. I believe the patient gets even better service when everyone is on the same page and everyone is helping out in their care. A lot of our doctor referrals now come from the doctors themselves instead of going through some of their staff members.
Another really cool thing, we have new front office help. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for our referral sources to get an order through. The young lady we just hired is going to be a blessing. We've known her for a few years and she has medical knowledge. We had to let our previous girl go. I won't go into reasons why but I think were blessed with the new addition to our team.
That's all for now.
Thanks for reading
1 comment:
Hey PD,
When I was in Highschool my parents owned a clinical lab and thusly did a lot of Medicare billing. It drove my dad nuts. There is no doubt it could be done better.
I love what you are saying about running your business with the best service. When I work, I try to run my business to provide the best possible service. I also look for ways to remind my clients that if they like my service the biggest thanks they can give me is to refer my services. It has worked really well for me. You'd be surprised how many of my past clients sent cards, emails and well wishes during the process of my cancer. It is great to have clients turn in to friends.
time for dinner gotta run.
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