Wellness

[PickyPicky3]

THE MOTHER OF ALL BILLING STORIES

Six years ago a strange result turned up on a blood test. My primary told me not to worry. I did some research and discovered a rare genetic disorder which matched the result. My doctor said if it was genetic it would have shown up before age 70, it's really rare, and the test is expensive. But he gave me a prescription.

When I went to the lab, they said this is an unusual test and it's kind of expensive. I told them to double check that there's no pre-authorization. There wasn't.

The test came back negative. Three weeks later I got a bill for 

Spoiler

$30,000 

I decided the best way to deal with it was to ignore it for the time being. I got the same bill every month for two years. Then it stopped. It never went to collections. No other communication of any kind.

Sometimes sticking your head in the sand is the way to go. I don't want to know what happened.

[ChillyTulip]

I think it's hilarious that you think your physician gets money for any lab work he or she orders. 

[granddi]

@ChillyTulip Hilarious?

This is from the AMA site. 

Most physicians now compensated through more than one method

DEC 17, 2020

5 MIN READ

Andis Robeznieks

Senior News Writer

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The percentage of physicians who were paid by a single method dropped to 42.7% in 2018 from 51.8% in 2012, with salary and compensation based on productivity being the two most prominent payment methods.

This and other related data was presented in the AMA Policy Research Perspective report, “2012–2018 Data on Physician Compensation Methods: Upswing in Compensation through the Combination of Salary and Bonus.”

Results were based on data from the ongoing Physician Practice Benchmark Survey, conducted by the AMA Division of Economic and Health Policy Research. The division conducts independent research to support AMA federal, state and private sector advocacy.

The new report examines the different methods used to compensate physicians from 2012 to 2018, such as salary, personal productivity, practice financial performance, or bonus unrelated to personal productivity. Physicians in solo practice are excluded from survey questions as their compensation is directly related to practice financial performance, which itself is partly driven by productivity.

Salary was the main method of physician compensation in 2018, with two-thirds of doctors earning a portion of their income from salary and 56.9% earning more than half of their income from this method of payment.

Meanwhile, 54.9% of physicians received compensation based on personal productivity and, for 28.6%, more than half of their income was productivity based.

Productivity means how much money you generate for the practice.