Big billing dept problem

Forrister7 · December 2002

The business I work for is a 4 doctor medical practice. The "Billing Department" consists of one person whose personal opinion is that people should not have to pay for their medical care. As a result, he has let literally hundreds of thousands of dollars slip through the business over the last two years by not resubmitting corrected claims, by not balance-billing the patients, by letting the claims sit until the deadline for filing has been exceeded, and by "writing off" unpaid claims. When questioned, he will come up with some ridiculous excuse why a certain claim has gone unpaid. The doctors, who are somewhat aware of the problem, have halfheartedly addressed the issue with the managing partner, who refuses to see a problem and blows them off any time it's brought up. I have left A/R reports for the managing partner to look over, and repeatedly told him there's barely enough money in the bank to pay the bills and meet payroll. This is a thriving practice and we should have plenty of money to put away for the future! I can't tell you how frustrating this situation has been to me and how helpless I have felt trying to correct it, as any and all attempts to do so have met with "I know how to do my job" as a response from the employee.
And, oh, did I mention that the employee who does the billing is the son of the managing partner?
Any suggestions before we go under?

Ixtapa99 · December 2002

Unfortunately, I don't have any "magic" words of wisdom but I can sympathize with your situation because I work for a company that consists of 3 partners (2 of which are brothers that don't see eye to eye on anything). The brother who is in charge of the sales department refuses to recognize that he has not done a proper job in managing his dept or gaining/maintaining the customers for so long that our company is in the same predicament that you are in. I, too, get frustrated being the office/AR/AP/HR/payroll person that reports to the president (sales mgr's brother) around here and listen to my boss moan and complain about his brother and yet can't seem to do anything about it. It especially irritates me to hear the sales manager continue to blame everything from the economy to anything else he can think of to excuse his performance when I hear from other companies about how busy they are.

If you have tried to present your case in every way shape and form to the "other" powers that be, the only advice I can give to you is...start polishing up your resume. I don't mean to sound so negative but when it comes to getting in the middle of family in the company, you're going to have an uphill battle. I guess I just wanted you to know you're not alone out there.

Thanks for letting me vent. Christel

Don D · December 2002

I'm not a bookkeeper so I may not know what I'm talking about, but, there may be a little fraud going on here. The managing partner appears to have his head in the sand because maybe his son is juggling accounts and buying them both Land Cruisers or Harleys.

Pork · December 2002

GET OUT, BEFORE THE SON FINDS AWAY TO PLANT SOMETHING IN YOUR CORNER AND THEN PULL THE STRING AND GET RID OF YOU A KNOWN PROBLEM IN HIS LIFE. DON'T WAIT FOR IT TO GO DOWN. TURN YOUR RESIGNATION IN TO THE THREE DOCTORS WHO ARE ALSO AT A LOSS BUT DON'T REALIZE THE MAGNATUDE OF THE SITUATION! PORK

Balloonman · December 2002

Can you quantify the loss. Can you review the information so you can sit down with the other 3 and show them that the son of the managing partner has cost them all approximately $xxxx over the last two years. I would also innocently ask maybe we should have an independent audit or consider outsourcing the billing.
I would have my resume ready to go. You might ask if they would be references for you. When they ask why would you leave I would let them know that making payroll has become a challenge at times because of this. Because the practice is so financially unstable that you feel that if the situation is not addressed you need to look for another job. (Which you know that you do.)

Forrister7 · December 2002

One of the partners has mentioned having an outside auditor come in and examine the billing system, but as the "new partner on the block" she is hesitant to stick her neck out, especially since the other partners would only reluctantly support her, if they supported her at all.
I personally have been warned by other employees to keep out of the situation, as I would be perceived as a troublemaker if push came to shove in trying to fix this mess. So I keep my mouth shut while watching dollars fly out the window and grind my teeth at the $0.50/hour raises I and other employees traditionally get (while Mr. Wonderful, the billing expert and son of the managing partner gets $2.00/hour raises).

Balloonman · December 2002

Personally I would start a serious job search before doing as I said before. And if the mis-managing wants to terminate me for bringing problems to everyones attention. I would plan on the possibilty of termination, but keep a seperate copy of all documentation related to the problem, at home.

Then I would work the non-mismanaging doctors.............as it is their money be pissed away..........and you have the best chance to get support from them until you find a new job..........

My cheery $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

(PS In case you could not tell, I tend to be on the aggressive side!)

Theresa Gegen TX · December 2002

I agree with the posters who say you need to find a new job. You know that the business barely is getting by covering the bills. Your paycheck is one of the bills. Why would you want to hold on to a sinking ship??? (believe me, I held on to a job too long one time, when I could see that there was not enough money coming in to keep the business profitable -- then I was forced to find a new job quickly).

Start your job search now!! The partners clearly don't have the backbone to do anything about the problems, and if the firm tanks, you will probably lose wages, etc.

Good Luck!

Big billing dept problem

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