Thursday, March 30, 2006
Join the club - insurance companies are destroying the mental health profession:
Mr. Berman said that when he went into private practice in 1990, participating in the provider networks of various health insurance companies, his maximum allowable hourly billing rate was $95, with about half of that paid by the insurance company and the rest by the patient. Today, he said, rates have plummeted to the point that the usual total reimbursement for psychologists is $65 to $75 an hour.(via World of Psychology)
This drop has forced many practitioners to nearly double their client load simply to maintain their income, he said. Not only are lower fees problematic, but there is also the issue of not being paid quickly by managed care companies, and often having to resubmit claims. The time required to complete paperwork is, of course, not billable.
Posted by Kevin |
link
| Comments (2)
| 
Comments:
Welcome to the world of the primary care physician and the "Wal-Martization" of medical and mental health care. You get what you pay for, and if you can't pay for it, too bad. That's the American way.
# posted by 
: 12:10 PM
: 12:10 PM
Okay, so reimbursement is $65/hour. Would it be unreasonable to see 30 patients a week, allowing 10 hours out of a reasonable 40 hour work week for paperwork and keeping up your skills? My calculator says that's a gross of $97,500 for a 50 week year. Take out rent for a small room to use as an office, perhaps the cost of a billing service? That's still a decent income in a lot of places, folks.
This is 'destroying' mental health care? Who said psychologists are entitled to $200M a year? If you want to make more, then don't accept insurance, or limit your practice percentage of those who can't private pay.
I hear a lot of medical types complaining on here that they are too squeezed by reimbursement rates to make the princely living they would otherwise like to. Then don't accept the insurance, or go work at Kaiser or the VA.
Nobody is guaranteed wealth, and some of you seem to be putting your personal bank account ahead of your professional ethical responsibilities. Maybe medicine isn't the place for you. Take your analytical bent and go program video games or run a hedge fund.
The whole position that the answer to declining reimbursement rates is to ram through 50 patients a day smacks of violating your professional responsibilties to your patients. The defense for this is that the insurance companies made you do it -- and then you always want a pass for any egregious errors you make.
The world isn't a one-way play, fellas. You can't get wealth, respect, leisure and be insulated from all responsibility for your actions, no matter how outrageous. Those of you who get rich AND take decent care of your patients, thank god for you. The rest of you, consider career counseling.
Post a Comment
This is 'destroying' mental health care? Who said psychologists are entitled to $200M a year? If you want to make more, then don't accept insurance, or limit your practice percentage of those who can't private pay.
I hear a lot of medical types complaining on here that they are too squeezed by reimbursement rates to make the princely living they would otherwise like to. Then don't accept the insurance, or go work at Kaiser or the VA.
Nobody is guaranteed wealth, and some of you seem to be putting your personal bank account ahead of your professional ethical responsibilities. Maybe medicine isn't the place for you. Take your analytical bent and go program video games or run a hedge fund.
The whole position that the answer to declining reimbursement rates is to ram through 50 patients a day smacks of violating your professional responsibilties to your patients. The defense for this is that the insurance companies made you do it -- and then you always want a pass for any egregious errors you make.
The world isn't a one-way play, fellas. You can't get wealth, respect, leisure and be insulated from all responsibility for your actions, no matter how outrageous. Those of you who get rich AND take decent care of your patients, thank god for you. The rest of you, consider career counseling.
# posted by : 1:02 PM
: 1:02 PM
