Shared by: Miles Bodzin, DC at: drmiles@bodzin.com

He has a free cash practice newsletter

"Stopping Patient Drop-Out When The Insurance Ends"

I often get asked, how do you keep a patient from quitting care when their
insurance stops?  There are two key points that need to be addressed when 
dealing
with this topic. One is the education a patient receives and the other is the
financial plan.  This newsletter will deal with the financial plan and I will
address patient education at a later time.

The financial plan set up is crucial in preventing patients from quitting care 
at
the time their insurance stops.  Basically, when a patient begins care, you
should create a payment plan that does not change the patient's payment when
their insurance stops.

Patient's will stop care when their insurance stops because they have to start
paying a higher fee out of their pocket to see you.  Their pain is gone and the
out-of-pocket fee goes up.  No wonder they stop.  Well, effective patient
education should handle the "pain going away" part.  However the out-of-pocket
fee going up should never even happen.

Here's how it's done.

Step 1: Estimate the amount of care needed for the patient's ENTIRE treatment
plan.

Step 2: Determine how much care will be supplemented by the insurance.

Step 3: Estimate how much the patient is responsible for the care supplemented 
by
insurance.

Step 4: Total the entire plan by incorporating both the insured and non-insured
care into one care plan.  Be sure to apply appropriate discounts as an incentive
for the patient to utilize your plan.

By doing this, the patient's out-of-pocket expense does not change when the
insurance stops.  The entire cost of the plan is spread out over the whole plan. 
You should then give the patient three options for paying for the plan.  I
recommend either monthly, a third down with the balance paid monthly, or 
prepaid.

Pay attention to this tip.  It will save increase your collections 20-30%.  One
of the biggest mistakes a lot of doctors make is they create a cash plan and 
then
subtract what they estimate the insurance company will pay.  They figure, the
cash plan is $2900 and the insurance will pay $1000, so the patient pays $1900. 
This is absolutely wrong!  Why would you give the insurance company a cash
discount?

I always try to keep things simple.  Don't complicate things by trying to figure
out what the insurance will pay.  You really don't know.  Just concern yourself
with what the PATIENT's out-of-pocket PORTION of the insured visits is.  In 
other
words, how much is the patient responsible for on the visits covered by 
insurance?

Another pitfall is doctors seem to get confused by how to handle deductibles?  
They ask, how do I figure deductibles?  The answer is, you don't!  If you
determine the insurance will cover 20 visits, does it matter if they cover the
first 20 visits or the 20 visits after the deductible is met?  In essence, it
does not matter if the cash portion of the care plan comes before, after or
before & after the insured portion. Of course, if the deductible is so high that
you will never get paid by insurance, then don't incorporate the insurance at
all.  Go 100% cash and let the patient submit bills for their deductible.

If all this seems confusing, don't despair.  I have created a great tool that
automatically figures this all out for you.  By using this tool you will easiliy
increase your collections 30-50% for the same work.  No gimmicks either.

Here's what other doctors have said about my Chiropractic Custom Cash Plan
Calculator.

"Dr. Miles, this is the missing link that I've been looking for.  I will bring 
in
almost $6,000 in revenue for the same work... A nice 50% increase... These were
the easiest closes I have had in 18 years of practice.  That certainly makes me
feel a whole lot better with my future.  I definitely recommend your Cash
Practice Calculator."
William Moyal, D.C.
Miami, Fl

"Thank you so much for the calculator, it has saved our office so much time. 
This convenient tool is a life saver, now we have an accurate plan that we can
customize for each patient.  Actually this tool is so easy to use and so easy to
present that my staff is taking over the responsibility of working out the
financial details with the patients."Richard Klingert, D.C.
Egg Harbor Township, MI

To learn more about this exciting tool, go to http://www.CashPractice.com

I hope this was helpful.  If you need any further assistance, just let me know.

Yours in excellent service,

Miles Bodzin, DC
http://www.CashPractice.com

P.S. Learn more by reading past issues of Dr. Bodzin's Cash Practice Newsletter
at http://bodzin.net/cpnewsletterlist.htm