[LaneyDoll]

I had one of "those" calls today from a patient's mom. She was pissed b/c she wrote a check at the MD office on 11/2 and her statement from 11/9 did not reflect it. So, I told her that the MD provided me with the payment info on 11/14 and that her balance was now $xxx.xx. TYPICALLY that is enough-most people just want to know that their bill is right but not this women.

She bitched and cussed for several minutes, asking me what I was going to do in the future to make sure that her bills were right when they were sent out-after all "just how long DOES it take you to post a payment???"

So, I replied, "that office gave us your payment yesterday and it was posted on your account by today; if you have concerns about how long it takes for the payment to be reflected, you may want to discuss them with the MD at your daughter's next visit."

Sadly, this is pretty common. In fact, two weeks is actually an improvement. Sometimes it takes up to 4-6 weeks for us to get info, although they are faster about payments.

I have talked to the MDs countless times about this, about getting chewed on for things I have no control over-to no avail. The MDs run their office without help. They refuse to hire a nurse, assistant or even a receptionist. I understand that paying salary/benefits is costly but, if you make $225/hour (minimum) how can hiring (especially part-time) someone be more expensive than using your time to copy payments, take them to the bank, run to the post office, answer the phones, file charts---and get your biller needed documentation?