Title: Why psychiatrists don't take insurance
Headings: Why psychiatrists don’t take insurance
Why psychiatrists don’t take insurance
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Content: I’ll also tell you that while the secretary is paid an hourly fee, his ability to get paid is only as good as her motivation to follow through on dealing with the insurance companies, refiling denied claims, clarifying primary versus secondary insurance and getting the amount of the co-pays correct. And if the insurance company finds a reason not to pay, the doc is stuck — he can’t bill the patient, he’s just out the time/money. For a psychiatrist who does psychotherapy and sees 8-11 patients/day at an insurance company discounted fee, doing work that does not get reimbursed is a problem. A doctor may decide he can afford to take on some patients at reduced fees, but it’s infuriating to be subsidizing an insurance company because the forms were filed with something coded wrong, or because the insurance company lost them. Increasingly, insurers have requirements for how the doctor practices. Medicare has it’s 1.5% fee cuts for doctors who don’t e-prescribe. They have incentives to get doctors to figure out meaningful use. There are fee cuts if PQRS codes are not done. They still take paper claims, but will likely soon require electronic submissions. Every segment of these mandates requires a large investment of time and often money.