I don’t know about the other forms that you’re all talking about, but when I say that my FMLA forms have approximately 20 words total written on them, including all of the sections marked "N/A’, I’m not exaggerating. And the doctor’s name, office address and signature are stamped on, not even hand written.
So, yeah…I’m still pissed about the $20, especially in light of the fact that he’s going to be collecting a $5,000 (or more) fee for this surgery. IMO, filling out a form should be part and parcel of the service he’s going to provide for that $5k.
I didn’t realize how widespread this practice was, but I’ve thought ever since I started this game that it would be a good idea.
I have my own clinic once a week; it’s very small and I probably see half as many patients in that time that a private doctor would see. I probably spend an hour on each of those days doing paperwork on patients other than those I’ve seen that day. Forms to be filled out, labs to be reviewed, phone calls to be made, problems that my patients didn’t want to come in with, problems with patients getting medications, and on and on.
I really, really hate filling out forms. Their purpose is usually for me to certify that the patient has met some byzantine set of criteria in order to qualify for the insurance company to pay for, say, their insulin. The patient never has his part filled out, and they’re never given to me with any explanation; it’s just, “Here, I think you’re supposed to do something with this.” It often takes some time to figure out just what the point of the form is, long before I have to start digging in the chart to document three years of the patient’s oxygen saturations.
You’re going to see more of this–charges for paperwork, charges for prescription refills, charges for phone calls. Our clinic has a full-time RN who does nothing but take phone calls, and about half of her time is spent dealing with refills from patients who forgot to get something refilled at their last visit, or who haven’t had a visit since the refills ran out, or some such. As these things take up more and more time, the only alternative to charging for them would be to raise fees for office visits and procedures, and the insurance companies aren’t going to go for that.
All that said, I think it’s only fair to make this very clear to you before filling out the paperwork and assessing the fee, like the big yellow signs in CCL’s orthopod’s office.
They might wonder why you’re peeved about a measly $20 on top of $5,000+. It seems fair to me to charge you. The paperwork was filled out as a professional service, and it required the signature of a doctor, not just any old Joe Schmo. It reminds me of that anecdote about a guy who asks his lawyer to write a legal notice, and gets a bill for $5,000. He is outraged, and then his lawyer gives him the following billing breakdown: “$5 to write the letter, $4,995 for knowing what to put in the letter.”
Other patients getting the same surgery for the same price don’t also need that form filled out.
That form has nothing to do with the surgery, or even the billing for the surgery. There is nothing in the physician’s self-interest related to that form. It has only to do with a PERSONAL benefit for YOU.
Never a fee before for filling out a form? Irrelevant. Things change – what was right in the past isn’t necessarily right now. Heck, it may not have been right then.
Form is short and can’t take that long to fill out? Irrelevant. There’s likely a minimum fee for dealing with a form. And the doc assumes some responsibility, and thus incurs some risk, any time he’s signs such a thing. It’s not a charge-by-the-hour or charge-by-the-word situation (although longer/bigger PITA forms warrant higher fees than short easy ones).
Don’t be surprised to find other doctors “aren’t accepting new patients.” Not many people are interested in clients who want to dictate their billing policy to them.