Unfortunately, saying “no” puts one out on a limb, and makes us worried that we cannot continue to make a living — and we worry that someba\ody else will say “yes.” So be it — it is better to ensure your practice’s financial stability than to worry that a competitor will get that business.

Forget escrow. Forget letters. Insurance companies understand only one thing: employers and subscribers who drop their coverage. That only happens when the purchasers of the “coverage” discover no one willing to take their cards at the desk.

Doctors aren’t the ones buying the plans (except for their office staff) Patients have to see themselves as the subscribers and assume the responsibility for insisting that the companies they pay for insurance coverage actually deliver.

In a health care system dominated by federal policy, what ever gave you guys the impression that they wouldn’t change the rules – when it became convenient to do so – for their own purposes.

You can write all of the letters you want. Good luck.

Here’s a plan – see if you can get all of the PCP’s to collectively ‘not bill’ for the procedure. Instead – tell the patient they owe you $40 for the visit and put it in an ‘Escrow account” to be returned at a later date – then let THEM write the letters. That’s how you show your power.

The reason why it won’t happen is because most doctors put their comfort levels ahead of the necessary amout of ‘Civil disobedience’ required to turn things around.

Please don’t start writing a million blogs criticising me for writing this. Instead – write to one another in order to figure out how you can stop this trend. I’m trying to help.