A9273: Hot Water bottle/Ice Cap or Collar/Heat and/or Cold Wrap

L3674: Shoulder Brace (deletes L3672, L3673, L3675)

Jaw Pain (but not TMJ pain):  784.92

None relevant to most Chiropractors!

Yes, they are no longer an option!  With the rise of HUGE $5K and $10K deductibles, smart offices have alternate options ready and available.  One such option is to begin accepting payments.  But don’t do this the old fashioned way by accepting post-dated checks or allowing the patients to mail in payments.  This is way to labor intensive and error prone.  Use a service that allows you to process auto-debits instead.  Patients make mortgage payments, car payments and everything else via monthly payments that are automatically withdrawn, why not Chiropractic services?!  My recommendation: use Health Care Payment Solutions.  (Tell them I sent you, maybe they will buy me a coffee!)+

Tired of whining about low reimbursement rates and high hoops to jump through from a particular payer.  Don’t get emotional.  Do the math and calculate if you have a legitimate business reason to stop participating with a particular payer.  Read my article “How to Drop an Insurance Company” for specific details on how to do this logically.  Now is the time of year to do this because the best evaluation tool (your 1099-Misc) is arriving in your mailbox now.

Most chiropractors are massively underestimating the power of the internet to bring New Patients in their doors.  The net is the biggest market out there and allows you to effectively, efficiently and cheaply advertise to the masses in a way that the good old phone book never could, can or will do.  In my experience, most chiropractors either lack a website or have one that, well (to be totally honest) is about as useful as a spoon to an alligator.  What’s worse, some of you have a beautiful looking website that does speak well of your business, but pulls in zero patients per year.  Skip the yellow pages and get a decent website!  My recommendation:  ChiropracticTraffic — Matt Prados and his spiky hair might be annoying to a bald guy like me, but I think he and the team at ChiropracticTraffic are on to something.  They can quickly create websites that magnetically attract New Patients to your office and get patients interested in chiropractic and you (hair is not a requirement — these websites work for eggheads and hair farmers alike).

Most chiropractors have to take the “Oh Yes It’s Free” sign off their back, grow a spine and collect for the good work they do.  And then, when things go wrong — as in the insurance payer demands money back that’s not rightfully theirs — we need to politely, firmly refuse.  For more detailed information on how and when to do this, check out my articles “What to Do About Refund Requests”.  In advance, here’s the FREE “Refund Request Rejection letter” I offered with this article.

This blog post was just a tiny fraction of what was covered in my most recent all-day seminar, “Maximize Income, Minimize Audit Risk.”  In addition to  the items above, you missed 23 payer policy changes that WILL affect your ability to get paid in 2011; 2 upcoming changes that you definitely need to pay attention to to avoid payment delays or denials; 13 different Audit Triggers to steer clear of; 8 insurance-related shenanigans you definitely want to avoid;  4 LEGAL ways to provide Cash Discounts and Dual-Fee Schedule disasters; 11 Coding Strategies you absolutely, positively need to be using to get paid BETTER and for your valuable time; and more and more!

But I am not just teasing you over the fact that you missed out on this great opportunity!  For those of you who missed my recent seminars, couldn’t or wouldn’t travel to the Northwest, here is your chance to catch a replay of the seminar (condensed) in an upcoming WEBINAR format.

Catch the Maximize Income, Minimize Audit Risk WEBINAR from the comforts of your home or office on Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 8am PST / 9 am MST / 10 am CST / 11 am EST. (click link above for details)