Re: What type of technical questions do an employer ask at an interview?

[Steve Verno]

MY wife cooks like Peggy Bundy.

My meals come in a bag with golden arches, a crown, or old man with gotee on it.

[Danni R.]

In KITCHEN............ Well it then depends on how she cooks. If delicious, then no need to challene her in that department too. But risk is also there(if shez old then there is a possibility that you get pasta in demand of a pudding).

Hahahahaha! Exactly.

         

[Danni R.]

It becomes very difficult when you have a female doctor and specially an old one. I have worked with a couple of them and had a bad experience.

Studies have shown that women mature more easily than men. ... However, most mature women also become set in their ways, and it may be hard to get them to change certain habits, or bend their established rules. They feel that they are older and wiser. Nonetheless, men find this challenging and men typically love challenges, but probably not on the job. They prefer the mature woman's challenges elsewhere, such as, let's say, in the kitchen. ROFL.

[Danni R.]

THis was a single provider practice.  The wife took all the checks, cashed them and posted payments.  Her policy was not to bill the patient and write off copays and deducibles. She would lose documents. 

AT the time, Florida Law required authorization to treat an HMO patient.  The daughter refused to call for auhorization.  This caused the HMO to deny payment. 

I was about to leave when a patient came in. She presented an HMO card for an HMO that I knew the doctor was not contrcted with.  I told the daughter she had to call the HMO for authorization.  She didnt just say no, she said f*ck no. 

. . . [snip]. . .

And thanks to you guys I understand the meaning of contracted with... now reading the posts is so much more fun (duh!).

[Pay_My_Claims]

see that is where I am now. The DME provider that I work for constantly asks me what can he do to help his revenue situation...I tell him what the issues are.............they are still going on. 

[Steve Verno]

THis was a single provider practice.  The wife took all the checks, cashed them and posted payments.  Her policy was not to bill the patient and write off copays and deducibles. She would lose documents. 

AT the time, Florida Law required authorization to treat an HMO patient.  The daughter refused to call for auhorization.  This caused the HMO to deny payment. 

I was about to leave when a patient came in. She presented an HMO card for an HMO that I knew the doctor was not contrcted with.  I told the daughter she had to call the HMO for authorization.  She didnt just say no, she said f*ck no.  I called the HMO.  they told me they wouldnt authorize the visit. They also told me to tell the patient to go to her PCP.  I did that and the patient used some 4 letter words with her HMO.  She stormed out of the office.  The wife started yelling at me that I cost her husband money.  I sat down and explained that the HMO would have refused to pay for the visit, just like the 1,000 claims he wanted appealed.  I said, I saved him money. 

Yes, I blamed part of the problem on the wife and daughter because this is where the problem was.  The provider was also part of the problem, but the wife and daughter caused more of the problems.    I had a pediatric provider whose problem was his billing company.  I recommended terminating their services and bring the coding/billing in house.  they did and improved.  The single practice provider went out of business.  As a consultant, I go in not to find anything wrong.  I look for positive things.  Things that are wrong show their face without looking for them.  I have to do a forensic examination to take any problems back to their source. Any suggestions I make have to be for the benefit of the provider.  If the wife is the OM and biller and she is doing  great job, I wont recommend the change the status quo just because he's using his wife. 

The other day I met with the wife of a provider.  She is about to become his OM and biller.  He thinks because she has a PHD, she can do billing.  I met with her because she knows she dosnt know billing.  I suggested she unergo training or hire a trained biller.  She asked me to take the job but i said no because Im not lookin for work.  I did refer her to one of my students who lives in the area.

[Pay_My_Claims]

ROFLMAO!! @ blame the wife & daughter. OMG

Yes the smaller practices do that, but the larger multi-specialty have billing dept and a PM to deal with all of that.
I was the PM/biller at a general practice/ped's office. The CNA is now the PM of that office. She went and got her Med Assisting degree and does both........The Pediatrician left the partnership and the General practitioner downsized greatly.

i have a provider with 3 offices and 4 billers, he approached me about my services because he said his overhead was at 60%. he is trying not to close out 2 offices.

[Danni R.]

A practice I once worked for had the wife as office manager.
The daughter was the receptionist/coder/biller.  Neither had any training.

I was called in as a consultant to discover why he wasnt making any money.

My answer was blame your wife and daughter.  Her policies were toxic and his daughter refused to do what she was supposed to do. 

Yes, I've been there, seen that. It is true. I am sure the wife, and family members DID NOT have to complete any pre-employment tests... most of them probably were IRS write offs anyway. LOL. We (the medical assisting staff) hated it when the wife would sail in at any given moment of the day to supervise us; or we had to teach the clueless family member fresh out of highschool, and then, having to catch up on our own duties. We'd be hush-hush, but rolling our eyes and snickering in the back. After all, by right of passage, she WAS the boss, ultimately, including the doctor.

[Danni R.]

Uh..no. The economy is bad sorry. You see posts constantly about jobs. I think you are a tad bit confused about my post. I stated that there are many practices in which the Practice Manager DOES THE BILLING. He or she does not oversee the billing department. Small practices do not generally hirer a PM and a biller, the job is merged into 1. In those cases your reply would be inaccurate as they are going for the PM job, but they are also doing the billing, so would that case require them to do a billing test??

Such was the case of the solo medical practice (one doctor, asthma and allergy specialist). His wife came in doing various admin work, and the FT hired practice manager did the billing, while also supervising us, the medical assisting staff. She did not oversee the billing department... which I am not sure whether this doctor even had hired outside help. Perhaps collections.

[Steve Verno]

A practice I once worked for had the wife as office manager.
The daughter was the receptionist/coder/biller.  Neither had any training.

I was called in as a consultant to discover why he wasnt making any money.

My answer was blame your wife and daughter.  Her policies were toxic and his daughter refused to do what she was supposed to do. 

[Pay_My_Claims]

If a person is going for the post of Manager it is certain that the practice is not downsizing that's y owner needs a manager to manage the things properly. I think we are talking about the person going for an interview, and not about a person already on a job in a down sizing practice.

Uh..no. The economy is bad sorry. You see posts constantly about jobs. I think you are a tad bit confused about my post. I stated that there are many practices in which the Practice Manager DOES THE BILLING. He or she does not oversee the billing department. Small practices do not generally hirer a PM and a biller, the job is merged into 1. In those cases your reply would be inaccurate as they are going for the PM job, but they are also doing the billing, so would that case require them to do a billing test??

[Pay_My_Claims]

thats not true........that is my point. Also most practices are downsizing. There are many offices in which the PM's job is doing the billing. Many of the small single or 2 practice offices combine both jobs. In a multi-specialty clinic you will have a PM that basically overseas the billing and accuracy of it, but not actually performs it. They don't have an office manager and a biller.

[Steve Verno]

How come my picture is always dogs playing poker.

[Pay_My_Claims]

not even a problem, i am just stating as we have 3 people posting about the pre-employment tests that they were given, I have, nor any of the billers that I have met in the upteen years that I have billing have ever been asked to take a test for billing. I honestly believe the likelyhood of being given a "pre-employment" billing test is very unlikely. As I stated, maybe it is location generated, but it just doesn't go on in NC (from what I have seen). I have gotten clients for my billing service, and not 1 has even asked me if I was certified. (now that can attribute to my CPMB on my name or what I have on my site). I stressed the point of not being asked to take a test for balance.

[Pay_My_Claims]

my post is not to dispute anyone being "tested" as a biller, and that may be location specific, but a general statement that I have never been given a pre-employment test for billing.
Most providers I have seen have no idea how to bill and therefore can't even test me.