Ethics Governance
Ethics & Governance - Resources and Articles |
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| Article - Abstract. To view full article click on the article title. | |
CBHD: Cold Hard Cash by Dan Beals That will be cash please. You may be hearing this more often at your doctor’s office. MSNBC recently reported a trend in medical practices to accept only cash payment for healthcare, citing a number of advantages for a cash-only practice.1 Dealing on a cash-only basis cuts out all of the red tape associated with insurance payments, as an office may have to deal with more than 100 different companies. Overhead is dramatically decreased--fewer personnel are needed because the multiplicity of forms required for insurance filing would be rendered unnecessary. In many instances, entire personnel positions can be eliminated, thus making up for the loss of revenue from a cash-only practice. Doctors are freer, so the article claims, to do what they do best: take care of patients. But is this really a good idea? Let’s look at some of the issues involved. A cash-only practice would have benefits for most healthcare practitioners. One could charge reasonable fees for services rendered instead of the inflated prices now used to create “wiggle room” in insurance contract negotiations. Fees could be tailored to individual the patient and circumstance. Accounting would be straightforward and up to date. There would be little or no concern for late submission of fees or documentation. Cash-only practices are not a new idea. It was the way doctors did business for thousands of years until the twentieth century. Full Article: http://www.cbhd.org/resources/healthcare/beals_2004-06-22.htm |
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2006 Ethics-Governance.com |
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