Managing Director
of Synapse Medical
Services.
a welcome reply to my article Claiming on
Consumables, which appeared in the last
issue of this magazine. The reader offered an
alternative solution, involving adding fees
for consumables such as bandages, which
was fully compliant with the law.
Medicare rebatable price, let's say $30,
and then add the consumables like bandages,
say $10, on top. In that way the patient
would not ultimately be out of pocket
for the service but they would pay for
the consumables.
consultation and consumable but would
get the consultation fee straight back
the patient pays $40, gets $30 back almost
immediately from Medicare and the law
is obeyed. It's nice and neat and, best of
all, the practice gets reimbursed for the
consumable items.
private practice and is underpinned by the
legal nature of the relationship between
doctors and patients under our national
health scheme.
Margaret Faux explores bulk billing versus patient claims.
Q: I have a contractual relationship with my patient as a service provider: