Business Opportunities Weblog

Billing Your Doctor for Your Wasted Time

By on April 1, 2013 in Ideas

There’s a great business idea in here, somewhere!

CNN:

Elaine Farstad got antsy as she waited for her doctor, who was late for her scheduled appointment. Then she got downright impatient. Then, as nearly two hours passed, she got mad. Then she came up with an idea.

“I decided to bill the doctor,” she says. “If you waste my time, you’ve bought my time.”

When Farstad returned home, she figured out her hourly wage working as an IT specialist at Boeing in Everett, Washington. She doubled it for the two hours she’d spent in the waiting room, and mailed the invoice to her doctor.

“It’s ludicrous — why would I wait for free?” says Farstad, who is now an engineering graduate student at North Carolina State University. “Like we all learned in kindergarten, it’s about respecting each other.”

In years gone by, doctors would likely have scoffed at the suggestion they reimburse patients for time spent waiting. But Farstad’s doctor sent her a check for $100, the full amount she requested, and some tardy doctors tell CNN they give patients money (or a gift) before the patient even asks.

Photo by opensourceway

Business Opportunities Weblog editor and publisher Dane Carlson lives in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, just 15 miles from Yosemite National Park. He accidentally became a professional blogger in 2001. He has added 12,203 posts to the site.

Another Idea: How to Start a Time-Management Specialist Business

  • http://www.business-opportunities.biz Dane Carlson

    The graphic says “SHARE” btw.

  • http://wahm.business-opportunities.biz Angela Shupe

    I would love to see this used for other types of service.

    I once spent around 3 hours on tech support for my old Internet provider. Over 2 hours of it was going through the motions with a man who couldn’t figure out why my problem didn’t fit his checklist. I was eventually bumped to “advanced tech support,” and waited another half hour for someone to take me off hold. The man I reached this time fixed my problem in 10 minutes. 3 hours passed that day, and I would have LOVED for them to reimburse me for my wasted time.

    If reimbursing patients works for doctors, I bet service providers would have happier customers if they reimbursed them for their wasted time too!

  • http://n.a. Cindy Hawkins

    It is an idea I sure can dig – might just whip some Doctors into line, by insisting they treat patients respectfully even BEFORE they treat them in the office, medically. Now and again I’ve cooled my heels in a medical waiting room for over an hour past my scheduled appointment, only to have the M.D. bring me into his examination room, and then be surly or only half-listening. Medical service providers sometimes need a thump on the stethoscope: billing them could be one way to get their attention, and perhaps, better care?

  • http://www.idealmedicalcare.org/ Pamela Wible MD

    The video that started the CNN piece:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxF0ISyuvSA

    Excluding emergencies, reasons why doçtors are late
    for scheduled appointments:

    PATIENT-CAUSED:
    Not advising receptionist of real reason for appointment
    (wrong time allotted)
    Add-on complaints & “oh by the ways”
    Add-on family members “mom brings sick siblings to one child’s visit”
    Being late
    Not having insurance card/appropriate ID/copay ready etc. . .
    On cell phone

    PHYSICIAN-CAUSED:
    Unrealistic schedule
    Overbooking
    Socializing with staff
    Personal phone calls
    Drug rep conversations
    Arrive late for work (poor time management)
    Consulting with other doctors

    SYSTEM-CAUSED:
    Third party B.S. (prior auths, insurance hoop jumping etc. . ) **
    EMR Issues/IT breakdown

    ** Since PHYSICIAN signed contract with abusive third party
    and PATIENT pays monthly premiums then this
    is a PHYSICIAN & PATIENT-CAUSED delay.

    My Take: http://www.idealmedicalcare.org/blog/should-physicians-pay-patients-for-waiting/

    Pamela Wible MD

  • Jaime

    Few years ago, after waiting for more than an hour at the Doctor office,
    I got up and handled the receptionist an invoice for my time, she was so
    surprised that she called the doctor, after a brief apology he promised me
    I was going to be next. Since them, when I go to see him, I don’t have to wait more than 20 minutes.

  • Arthur

    There should be no waiting at all, period!

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