THE QUESTION: THE PATIENT HAD TOLD ME THEY’RE OK MOVING FORWARD COSMETIC AND HAVE NOW BILLED THE INSURANCE COMPANY ON THE BACKEND, FORCING US INTO THE BILLING PROCESS. ANY WAY TO AVOID THIS IN FUTURE? We were asked a really good question about insulating against patients submitting self-pay cases to their insurance after the fact- […]

WHICH PLASTIC SURGERY PROCEDURES ACTUALLY PAY (THROUGH INSURANCE)? As a plastic surgeon, it’s likely that you got into this field because you like to help people.  But, realistically, you can’t help every person that walks through your doors and still keep the lights on. To run a successful practice, you have to keep an eye […]

WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH LIPEDEMA BILLING? Covering “borderline” or “grey area” procedures is a constant struggle in plastic surgery billing. Certain insurance companies do certain things. Lines are blurred. Rules are changed. The landscape is ever-changing. Even if you can get something covered, who the heck knows what you’ll be paid…certainly not what you would […]

THE ANSWER: How many patients who come to you for a “septoplasty” have zero desire for a positive aesthetic outcome?  Like they care 0% about how they look after surgery and are seeing you solely because their deviated septum has robbed them of their ability to breathe?   None.  They might say they don’t care, but […]

THE ANSWER: Almost all payers, including Medicare/Medicaid DO cover/WILL cover REMOVAL of implants placed for any reason w/ Bakers III+ and/or Rupture.  PAY ATTENTION HERE: they cover ONLY removal of implant/extracapsular material, perhaps capsulectomy/capsulotomy, and NOT revision/replacement UNLESS there’s a personal history of breast cancer or mastectomy for prophylaxis.   So…tell that patient we can […]

Raise your hand if you want to go to school for 15 years and then stand for 8 hours turning a stomach into a breast and get paid $500 per hour for your expertise? Are you familiar with microvascular anastomosis? Yeah, you gotta do that stuff too. Do you skeletonize vessels in your free time? […]

Search engines handle approximately 2.45 million searches for health-related topics, and over 100,000 searches for “plastic surgery” every month. Just think about what the right search engine optimization (SEO) strategy can do for  your plastic surgery practice. SEO is using a set of practices to improve the positioning and appearance of your web pages. It […]

Newsflash folks: paper charts aren’t coming back. And, the demand for plastic surgery is still high and will continue to rise. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the number of nonelective and elective procedures continues to soar every year. If you want to successfully manage your growth, the number one tool you will […]

The words “plastic surgery” often can conjure thoughts of celebrities attempting to preserve their youth. But plastic surgery isn’t all about “cosmetic” surgery. Not only can a number of traditionally “cosmetic procedures” be covered by insurance (i.e., breast reductions, rhinoplasties, blepharoplasties, panniculectomies, etc.), but many plastic surgeons serve patients seeking strictly medically necessary procedures such […]

Really? Who cares if you’re a plastic surgeon or a dermatologist? You all just cut stuff right? No, no I’m totally cool with a proctologist working on my rhinoplasty, because it’s basically the same. Yeah, I’d love a podiatrist to Coolsculpt my pannus with a toenail clipper…no big deal if my gut looks like a […]