Home Forums Discussions General Discussion referrals and pre-auths

SO I have been in business for about 17months now and I am still
holding tight with myself and a FT LPN. I just hired a PT receptionist
for 16 hrs a week to help on the busier days, but I am still having
issues with all the paper work. I cannot "cut off" all insurance yet,
since I am still growing, but it is getting crazy here! The phone rings
off the hook at times, everyone needs a referral or pre-auth(even if
they have a PPO-grrrr) and we are getting swamped with work. I am
having my LPN train my new receptionist to help with the referrals and
I have changed my office policy to let the pts know they need to give
us at least one week to process the referrals and auths.

Despite my efforts, the patients are getting more demanding. I don't
want to annoy my patients, but I am a micropractice and that message is
NOT seeping into their heads. I don't know what else to do. I cannot
afford another FT staff member. Help! How do you do it?(specially those
who work in NJ).

Sounds like you are doing a lot of work for nothing. You might find it more satisfying if you were actually getting paid for the work, and having time allotted to do it. Consider the advantages of actually seeing the patient: 15 minutes of your full attention and income to boot. Plus, no frantic rushing around trying to squeeze all that work in between scheduled patients. Of course your patients would much rather you "JUST" (I hate that word) handled it over the phone (ie. no co-pay), just like the drug addicts in your neighborhood who know "how busy the doctor is" and "JUST" need need him to phone in their Vicodin. Decide what kind of practice you want for the next 30 years and stick to your guns. Patients will ALWAYS want more. We have open access scheduling and see most people the same day and still get people who call at 8 am for a rash and complain when we give them an 11 am appt. Don't give away your services. You'll go broke and have a lousy time doing it.