09/13/2014    Joseph Borreggine, DPM

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Effective Sept 15, 2014 our office has decided to
change our payment policy on how we treat our new
patients or patients that have been seen in the
office in the current calendar year.

These patients will have their insurance benefits
checked prior to being seen in the office. They
will be seen as a new patient, but the first
visit will be a complimentary exam to discuss a
differential diagnosis, possible treatment plan,
and provide a estimate of charges for said
treatment regimen.

Since benefits will have already been checked
prior to their arrival, these patients will be
told what they will be expected to pay regarding
co-pays, deductible, and co-insurance amounts
based on the probable treatment options. If they
decide to see us based on the above, then an
appointment will be made to start their treatment
plan. All of our private, HMO, PPO, and cash
paying patients will be treated exactly the same,
no exceptions.

This policy change has been put into place to
better inform our patients regarding costs and
circumvent the continual problem of having
patients pay their bill after the treatment is
provided over a long period of time which
causes a large aging accounts receivable.

This may cause patients to not see us because
they will finally realize that we actually expect
them to pay for services rendered outside of co-
pays, and hence they may go elsewhere. This, my
friends, is the new business of providing
healthcare. Patient's must understand that they
now have to have "skin in the game" if they want
to see a doctor.

With the new healthcare changes and higher
deductibles to be the future of private
insurance, we have decided to work
smarter not harder.

Joseph Borreggine, DPM, Charleston, IL,
Jfootfixr@consolidated.net

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