Fees survey confirms what you already know

Do me a favor: Pull out your practice statistics and compare this month’s numbers with what you were doing last year. Look at patient visits, fees charged, and reimbursements.

My guess is the statistics will show you are working harder (seeing more patients) just to stay even.

I’m not a mind reader; I just finished analyzing the data from our 10th Annual Fees & Reimbursements Survey.

The results aren’t pretty.

Overall average fees are down 1.4 percent and overall average reimbursements are down 4.0 percent.

It could be worse. Medical doctors, for example, experienced a “staggering” drop in reimbursements of 36 percent below 2004 rates, according to the editors of Physicians Practice, a business magazine for MDs, which, like Chiropractic Economics, conducts an annual fees survey of medical doctors. 

What’s a doctor to do?

It’s been said before, but I’ll repeat it again: Diversify, go “cash,” and get involved.

If the scope of practice in your state allows you to expand, carefully consider your options.

• Go ‘cash.’ Green is good — for the environment and your practice. But if you decide to implement a cash practice, do it right. 

Read the advice of the experts we talked with in “A world without reimbursements?” on page 34.

• Get involved. Join a professional chiropractic association and insist upon unity of voice among associations in addressing managed-care issues. But don’t stop there. Get involved in helping Congress solve the national healthcare problem — the source of these woes.

None of these is an instant answer to improving the reimbursement problem. However, you may be able to help yourself through better coding and documentation. In this issue, you’ll find articles that address these concerns, as well as ideas on how to raise fees and focus on wellness.

I hope you’ll enjoy the issue.

Until next time,

Linda Segall, Editor-in-Chief