Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Sound Familiar? These Guys Should Try Our Side

Hey folks,

I can not tell you how many of our patients now what to pay their co-pays with a credit card. I am so pissed off about all this. We loss at least 10-20% of our reduced fees to the billing system alone no less the give backs and reduced in network fees demanded and forced down our throats by these Cartel SOB carriers. And now to add insult to injury the patients would like us to take $1-$2 hit on their $20 co-pay too...

I just can't take it any more. I think we should all tell our Chambers of Commerce the next time the bitch about having to accept credit cards and their fees and discounts, that any one of us would swap places with any one of them in a heart beat. But isn't interesting how all these preditory, and parasitic no nothings like insurance carriers, these ISO's, clearinghouses, and all the like find a way to make themselves a entrenched part of othere peoples' valid business cycle?

http://www.merchantbillofrights.com/resources-commentary-detail.asp?ID=7

http://www.merchantbillofrights.com/index.asp

Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters,
Paul

It is a 1-3% loss, but most patients don't have the cash on hand to pay on time. Credit more than makes up for the loss by finishing up the payment cycle early and completely with less deadbeats. It's easier to charge more, too... seems like charging things is less painful to the patient!

We had a cash only policy on copays until this year. This frequently caused disputes with patients, but we stuck by our guns. We only changed the policy when we added a service that is not covered by insurance and we didn't want to deal with the possiblity of a $300 check bouncing.

Wayne,
What service did your PCP sister add if you don't mind my asking??? We could sure use a $300 service that is PIFATOS...

Like Leslie said isn't a shame when real doctors have to add schitck services just to keep the lights on....

But yes it is only 2-4% over all for these other retailers, that is exactly my point. All these mid and small sized businesses are up in arms about this much smaller percentage, we need to get in the main stream if these guys are right to be so upset over these relative to us, small percentages, then everyone should join us in assisting and insisting that we get some sort of serious reforms that eliminate and control our 20-40% losses just to feed and be part of the system that is forced upon us.

What really caught my eye which is why I posted it was the parts about they feel they have no choice but to be part of the credit card system, just like we feel that we have no options either. And that was just for Visa/MC.

And then American Express was even worse even though if you read it closely, AMEX costs less to the network and should be cheaper. Read the one about how going after all these add ons basically only helped the mega retailers like Walmart and the likes, not the small and mid-sized guys. There are such connections and similarities back to our situation with the insurance carriers it's not fun, only it is on a much smaller scale percentage of gross income wise. It's a holiday weekend take some time late tonight and really click your way thru the thing. It'll make ya laugh and cry all at the same time...

Paul,
We're still Broke....

I convinced her to apply for permission to provide Yellow Fever Vaccinations. So, now we do Pre-Travel Health Consults (no insurance) and provide vaccines that generally are covered. YF,Typhoid, Japanese Encephalitis & Rabies. Course you still have to provide the covered stuff like hep, mmr, etc.

So, what is PIFATOS?

I have some other ideas in the works too. 'Cause the conventional insurance model is really now a negative cash flow model--which as we all know translates into bankruptsy.

Wayne,
Whether posted or PM'ed please send them our way... Thanks.

Yeah there's another practice around here doing that too. Now how expensive are those less used vaccines? One could quickly tie up thousands of dollars in their fridge in the blink of an eye which if you read my newest thread we certainly don't have a lot to spare right now.... Gotta spend money to make money.

Hey do you think that Sec. Levvitt is actually intentionly trying to force all practices in to bankrupcy? Think about all at the same exact time, we have the 10% medicare cut coming at us while this roll out deadline of the NPI numbers for claim processing is becoming a reality too. I mean you just can't make this kind of CCHIT up. It really has to be some grand master plan, it's just way too perfect and boom, boom right in a row. And with King George's give away to the big banks regular folks can't ever get real bankrupcy protection from their creditors when the CCHIT hits the fan.... We are truly screwed aren't we???

I want to see most other small and mid-sized businesses get by on the table scrapes we are fed, with all the parasitic losses we are forced to endore, and the conditions we are forced to work under. The couldn't stand a month in our shoes and yet here we are each and everyone of us each and every day....

I think I need to go throw up and then take a needed shower. Guess who was playing mechanic again this weekend trying to trouble shoot a P0132 oxygen sensor code??? Yeah that's right.

Good Night and Good Luck,
Paul

OK, read this from the link and see just how much these merchants who presonally, my heart bleeds for, sound like they are up against the same CCHIT we are with the credit card companys that we are with all the carriers. And these guys are bitching about just a two percent loss. Imagine if they had to live with our 15-20% or more loss between forced contracts and fee schedules and billing.

http://www.rr.com/flash/?startView=TECHNOLOGY

https://www.revolutioncard.com/WebSite/about_us.aspx

Notice how they are now asking for the right to bargin collectively against these major hogs, the interlopers on their business.

BRAINSTORM!!! If these guys win congressional relief, first off we can all be part of the same collective group because any of us who accept credit cards would then be joined in and covered under such a collective.

Furthermore, if these merchants win such relief it would then set a bar, a legal precedent that we could probably use to have similar laws and legislation of our own or perhaps we would even be covered by whatever legisilation that comes out of this to then be allowed to bargin collectively aganist the gov't and the carriers for our own financial issues....

We need to get behind and included in this thing and fast. Make the law broad enough to cover any and all industries where small business has to do business with a large controlling industry, be it credit cards or health insurance carriers....

But this just goes to the heart of the matter. When some super larger company starts controlling how an end retailer of services or products can or can not have access to their own end retail customers, it just makes such common sense that such small and medium sized businesses need some form of relief, control, legislation to help level the playing field and open up access to their customers and keep the other side from taking total advantage of the situation. Just makes sense to me. We need to hook-up with these merchant's associations some how. Very cool.

Funny how congress is willing to help these folks out when they are not being squashed nearly as bad as we are, but just can't find it in themselves to create and grant us similar protections. But perhaps that goes back to the fact the many of our largest groups, mentioned in another recent thread, never really wanted to ask for such and even just as recently as a few years ago took a stand against the concept of collective bargining and/or unionization as though they were dirty words from red flags with hammers and cycles on them....

Good Night and Good Luck,
Paul