Cash only patients and labs

[Freedoc]

OK, So I am currently working a job 4 days a week in community Psych while getting paneled and planning to start a part time PP. I plan to get paneled on no more than 3 companies in my area and doing cash pay as well. While getting paneled I'd like to start seeing cash only patients.

So, I must admit, its kind of embarrassing that I'd never thought about this before but cash only patients need labs and.... if you're not on insurance this means patient pays for entire lab cost out of pocket yes? So what I'm wondering is how providers with cash only patients are dealing with this situation. Atypicals or other Antipsychs? Lipids, CBC?
I would think, obviously avoiding any med that requires therapeutic level monitoring for one. Otherwise, basically relying on having labs sent from other providers I suppose?

Anyone know what a lipid panel, CBC, BMP, CMP and TSH cost out of pocket? (Seriously, I don't know the answer to this question.)


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[F0nzie]

OK, So I am currently working a job 4 days a week in community Psych while getting paneled and planning to start a part time PP. I plan to get paneled on no more than 3 companies in my area and doing cash pay as well. While getting paneled I'd like to start seeing cash only patients.

So, I must admit, its kind of embarrassing that I'd never thought about this before but cash only patients need labs and.... if you're not on insurance this means patient pays for entire lab cost out of pocket yes? So what I'm wondering is how providers with cash only patients are dealing with this situation. Atypicals or other Antipsychs? Lipids, CBC?
I would think, obviously avoiding any med that requires therapeutic level monitoring for one. Otherwise, basically relying on having labs sent from other providers I suppose?

Anyone know what a lipid panel, CBC, BMP, CMP and TSH cost out of pocket? (Seriously, I don't know the answer to this question.)


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Around $50. Insurance still pays.

 

[dl2dp2]

I do pure cash and patients go to a Quest to get their blood drawn, and the cost is offset by their insurance. I write a script for whichever lab I want, and they either fax me the labs themselves or have Quest fax them to me. Some patients have a PMD who can do this for them and I ask the PMD to fax me a copy of labs. You do not need to worry about this.

Depending on the market, I would not try to panel too much so quickly. Worry more about marketing and setting the right rates.

 

[milesed]

The lab bills for the service, so it shouldn't matter if you accept the insurance or not (unless you own the lab).

 

[Freedoc]

Sweet Thanks for the answers


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[vistaril]

OK, So I am currently working a job 4 days a week in community Psych while getting paneled and planning to start a part time PP. I plan to get paneled on no more than 3 companies in my area and doing cash pay as well. While getting paneled I'd like to start seeing cash only patients.

So, I must admit, its kind of embarrassing that I'd never thought about this before but cash only patients need labs and.... if you're not on insurance this means patient pays for entire lab cost out of pocket yes? So what I'm wondering is how providers with cash only patients are dealing with this situation. Atypicals or other Antipsychs? Lipids, CBC?
I would think, obviously avoiding any med that requires therapeutic level monitoring for one. Otherwise, basically relying on having labs sent from other providers I suppose?

Anyone know what a lipid panel, CBC, BMP, CMP and TSH cost out of pocket? (Seriously, I don't know the answer to this question.)


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also think about how many of your cash only patients really need you to order labs. You probably aren't going to have a lot of cash patients on antipsychotics. You may have a few patients on lithium(high functioning bipolars). But really, only a small small minority of your patients should need labs.

If you're seeing cash only patients and a high percentage of these patients are needing lab monitoring because of drugs you are prescribing to them, I'd reconsider how you are practicing honestly.

 

[Creflo]

I do pure cash and patients go to a Quest to get their blood drawn, and the cost is offset by their insurance. I write a script for whichever lab I want, and they either fax me the labs themselves or have Quest fax them to me. Some patients have a PMD who can do this for them and I ask the PMD to fax me a copy of labs. You do not need to worry about this.

Depending on the market, I would not try to panel too much so quickly. Worry more about marketing and setting the right rates.

I am interested in avoiding insurance and charging cash in a podiatry practice, aiming for patients who have insurance but have high deductibles (then charge less than they would otherwise have to pay another practice that has higher overhead because they deal with insurance companies). Can you give any insight or resources on how to accomplish this? Do you have to be in a high income area, or only in an area where people have high insurance deductibles? Are some specialties a better fit for this than others?