Guest guest Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 A sad ending to my NCBF struggle with Empire BC. I got the letter written to something they couldn't argue as "violation of contract" by simply saying my 100 dollar per years was 1. for all patients old or new 2. was an Administrative Fee (which they can't control). But now they refuse to sign a contract with me because they "don't want to set a precedent" and "lose control of their network". i.e read control of their doctors! This was a new contract and they were not interested letting me sign a contract and let patients decide if they wanted to come on board or not despite the fact that I get 4 calls a week looking for doctor that will take Empire. (My NCBF is less than they will pay in gas to get to another doctor as all the locals are very full with very long office waits etc.) They were very adament they they would pay me 3 dollars more per visit for their patients to make that extra fee go away! Hows that for illegal! I had really hoped to win them over. How naive I continue to be. Only two patients have refused to pay the fee and I now have to make the decision to "stir the pot" by telling them by summer's end that they need to pay or chose another physician. One of them works for the largest insurance group I have. I hesitate to let them slide and have them talk about not paying and making the rest of my patients mad. At this point I've asked all new patients to pay at time of first visit and all established patients to pay by years end. I am getting a high rate of no shows for first visits which I do a complete physical as well as problem focused. I suspect this is over the NCBF but no one returns my calls when I call to ask. Therefore I am no longer scheduling these visits until new patient packets are returned with signatures for my office policies and NCBF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 I'm so sorry to hear this, Myria. It's SO infuriating, because the insurers really shouldn't have the power to interfere in matters that are outside our contracts. I know that none of us has time for this, but I wonder if you could speak to someone at our state medical society or the insurance commissioner's office, to see if they are allowed to do this? Speaking of bad precedents, it seems like a VERY bad precedent to let insurers do this to US!---Sharlene > > A sad ending to my NCBF struggle with Empire BC. I got the letter written to something they couldn't argue as " violation of contract " by simply saying my 100 dollar per years was 1. for all patients old or new 2. was an Administrative Fee (which they can't control). But now they refuse to sign a contract with me because they " don't want to set a precedent " and " lose control of their network " . i.e read control of their doctors! This was a new contract and they were not interested letting me sign a contract and let patients decide if they wanted to come on board or not despite the fact that I get 4 calls a week looking for doctor that will take Empire. (My NCBF is less than they will pay in gas to get to another doctor as all the locals are very full with very long office waits etc.) They were very adament they they would pay me 3 dollars more per visit for their patients to make that extra fee go away! Hows that for illegal! > > I had really hoped to win them over. How naive I continue to be. Only two patients have refused to pay the fee and I now have to make the decision to " stir the pot " by telling them by summer's end that they need to pay or chose another physician. One of them works for the largest insurance group I have. I hesitate to let them slide and have them talk about not paying and making the rest of my patients mad. At this point I've asked all new patients to pay at time of first visit and all established patients to pay by years end. > > I am getting a high rate of no shows for first visits which I do a complete physical as well as problem focused. I suspect this is over the NCBF but no one returns my calls when I call to ask. Therefore I am no longer scheduling these visits until new patient packets are returned with signatures for my office policies and NCBF. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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