Ian Haywood wrote:
Ok, so private-billing is good. Fine. Now would one of you silvertails mind
describing how the process actually works? What does the patient sign? when?
I take it you don't print the invoice yourselves in your office, how do you
communicate to the receptionist what items to put on the invoice?
1. As the patient heads from the consulting room to the reception
counter after the consultation, the doctor types the item number into
the patient's record in the 'waiting prom' screen of Pracsoft (which is
running constantly on every terminal in our practice);
2. At the front counter, the receptionist tells the patient the fee;
3. The patient pays the fee, by credit or debit card through the EFTPOS
machine, or by cash or (rarely) by cheque;
4. The receptionist offers to have Medicare transfer the Medicare
benefit to the patient's bank account via EFTPOS, or, if the patient
prefers, to get Medicare to send the patient a cheque for the Medicare
benefit, payable to the patient (we have been paid in full already);
5. While the patient is still there, the receptionist uses the Medicare
Online Claiming function in Pracsoft to either:
a) have Medicare transfer their Medicare benefit to their bank
account. This is the option that most of our patients choose. The
Pracsoft software sends the patient's bank account details, which are
are already stored in Pracsoft, to Medicare;
or
b) to get Medicare to post a cheque to the patient.
The claim and patient's bank account details are sent in real time,
while the patient is still at the reception counter.
6. Medicare Online Claiming notifies the receptionist within a few
seconds if there is any mismatch between the patient's details held by
Medicare and the details that we have sent, or if the claim is going to
be rejected for any reason, e.g. the service is in the after-care period
after an operation e.g. cataract surgery, and we haven't marked the
claim as Not Normal After Care. Any mismatch in patient's details is
corrected on the spot, by having the patient speak to Medicare on the
phone. NNAC type problems are fixed by our receptionist.
The patient does not have to sign anything at all. We give the patient
a combined account, receipt and statement of Medicare claim which
Pracsoft prints as part of the process.
The steps above sound rather long-winded and complicated, but for our
experienced staff are now quick and routine. We are happy with it.
--
Oliver Frank, general practitioner
255 North East Road, Hampstead Gardens, South Australia 5086
Phone 08 8261 1355 Fax 08 8266 5149 Mobile 0407 181 683
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