Declining Doctor Reimbursements Continue Closing Offices
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 For 26 years, Dr. Joseph Lalka has been a family doctor, treating 3,000 patients in his cramped office in Chatham, N.Y., a small town nestled in the rural northern part of the state. But Lalka recently told his patients he is taking down his shingle and closing his practice. He says he no longer can afford to maintain a family practice.
Now his patients fear a future without the man who has cared for some of them for a quarter of a century. And they say they are angry at a system that has forced their doctor to leave because of escalating operating costs and declining reimbursements. Lalka, 54, says that with an income of only $60,000 last year, and little opportunity to expand his practice, he no longer is able to make ends meet.
The physicians contract is at the center of the reimbursement issue; specifically “payment terms.” This has been un-manageable for many physicians; it’s not that they don’t care; it’s that their practices have turned into revolving doors to try and keep up with declining reimbursements and the demand for healthcare.
Consider this, a family practitioner can spend up to an hour with one patient and be reimbursed in the area of $25.00; factor in expenses and you see the problem. At the end of the day physicians must identify and manage these contracts. It is no longer sufficient to trust their income to others.
If Dr. Lalka, and others like him, had the necessary data; the outcome could have been far different.
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