Change Your Attitude Regarding Reducing Your Bill on Personal Injury Cases
PERSONAL
INJURY
By Peter G. Fernandez, DC
Iwas in a DC’s office listening to him talk to a personal injury (PI) attorney on the telephone. The DC used the “F-word” multiple times and called the attorney an “SOB.” When the DC hung up the phone, he was proud of himself. He told me, “I really told that ‘SOB’ off.” He had been talking to the biggest PI attorney in town, and the DC was mad because the attorney wanted to reduce his bill from $10,000 to $8,500. I told him that his actions were the stupidest thing I’d ever observed.
I then pointed out that he effectively made sure that the attorney would never refer another patient to him for the rest of his life. The DC said, “I deserve every penny of my bill because I did all of the work on the case. I diagnosed the problem; I treated the problem; and I determined that the patient had a permanent impairment. The attorney did no work. All he did is take my narrative report and write a letter to settle the case for thousands of dollars. All of the real work was done by me, and I deserve my money.”
Does his reasoning match yours? Let’s determine who the good guy was in this scenario.
When the attorney refers the patient to the DC. The DC
will make thousands of dollars and get a new patient with no expense on his paid. Think of what it costs the attorney to get the PI client. The attorney pays approximately $3,000 to $5,000 in advertising to attract the new client. Then, the attorney has to go through many steps to determine if the client is covered by insurance, whether the client caused the accident, and which insurance company is responsible for the bills inclined by the patient, i.e., fixing the car, doctor bills, time lost horn work, etc. Add to those expenses the monthly overhead of the attorney’s office and the fact that the attorney won’t be paid until the case is settled, which is usually two years. In addition, if the attorney has to fight an insurance company to get the DC paid for his or her care, including going to court, it’s going to cost the attorney a small fortune and a lot of extra work.
‘ Chink about all of the expenses, the work done by the attorney, and the fact that the attorney referred this patient to the DC—free. The attorney is the good guy. J J
Here is a short synopsis of what an attorney has to go through to take a case to court. It takes at least two weeks of the attorney’s time to go to trial—one week for preparation and one week in court. It will cost the attorney $30,000 to $40,000 to go to court—deposition fees, witness fees, etc. While doing all of this work and paying these expenses, the attorney only has a 30% chance of winning the trial. The attorney is expending all of this effort and money to get the DC’s bill paid and other expenses.
Think about all of the expenses, the work done by the attorney, and the fact that the attorney referred this patient to the DC—free. The attorney is the good guy.
Then if the attorney can’t get a good settlement on this case, or only wins a low verdict in court, the attorney asks everyone to reduce their bills so that everyone can be paid. The attorney will make his or her percentage, but since the case settled for less, the attorney will make less regardless of the work done, and the doctors and the patient makes less. Everyone gets paid, but not as much as they would like to be.
‘ *This doesn’t change the facts of this scenario significantly. Most of the time, a DC won’t refer a PI patient to an attorney if the patient has insurance that willingly pays the DC. 5 J
Instead of being mad at the attorney, the DC should thank the attorney for referring the patient and be thankful that he or she made thousands of dollars caring for the patient.
If the DC refers the patient to the attorney. This doesn’t change the facts of this scenario significantly. Most of the time, a DC won’t refer a PI patient to an attorney if the patient has insurance that willingly pays the DC. The DC will usually only refer patients who don’t have insurance coverage, have poor insurance coverage, or if an insurance company is withholding payments.
Think about it. The attorney receives the referral of the DC’s problematic patient, fights with the insurance companies to get the DC paid, and if they don’t pay adequately, the attorney spends $30,000 to $40,000 to take the case to court to get the DC’s bill paid. Who’s the good guy? The attorney! The DC should thank the attorney for spending a lot of money and taking a lot of time to get the DC paid.
PERSONAL
INJURY
If the DC’s bill for services is too high. Another similar scenario that I notice as a PI consultant is when doctors present very high bills to attorneys—so high that the attorneys have little or no chance of collecting the doctor’s bill.
For example, I once attended a wedding and a PI attorney came up to me to ask if I knew a certain doctor (another DC). I said, “Sure I do.” Then the attorney asked me to do him a favor. He asked me to talk to the DC and motivate him to greatly reduce his bills. I said, “Sure, but how big are his bills?” The attorney told me the DC averages $27,000 or more per PI case and won’t reduce his bills. He then went on to complain that the $27,000 bills prevented him from settling the cases and made it almost impossible to win the cases in court. Then the attorney told me that the DC would be furious at him for not getting the total amount of his bill paid (the DC only got one-third of his bill paid). In this scenario, the attorney lost, the patient was furious because of the DC’s bill, and the DC lost and was mad. Everyone lost because of the DC’s huge bill for minor injuries.
Do you think this attorney will refer any more patients to this DC? Heck no! Now the DC will lose many referrals of PI patients from this attorney and many thousands of dollars because he “puffed” up his bills. At the same time, will the attorney continue to accept referrals from this DC? Heck no! The attorney doesn’t want to fight hard and spend thousands of dollars to try to collect the DC’s bills that won’t be paid.
Here’s the results of a too-high PI bill. The DC loses the attorney’s referrals, patients feel that the DC gouged their insurance company, and the DC loses the ability to refer patients to a good attorney. All of that could happen because of price gouging.
Now, doctors, let’s step back and take an unbiased look at these scenarios. Instead of thinking that the attorney is an “SOB” when asking you to reduce your bill by a certain amount because you are entitled to every cent of your bill, think of that amount of money as your contribution to the attorney’s advertising budget and for the attorney’s work on your behalf to get you paid. Your attitude regarding attorneys reducing your bills should change from negative to positive.
Here’s a motto you should always follow in PI cases: “Take care of the attorneys that are taking care of you.”
Dr. Peter G. Fernandez, the “start-up” coach, is the world's authority on starting a practice. He has written 20 books and more than 200 articles on starting and building a practice, and hcis consulted in the opening of more tlmn 3,000 new practices.
This experience has resulted in what doctors really need to know when starting a practice. If you have any questions, please contact Dr Fernandez at The Practice Starters® Program, 10733 57th Avenue North, Seminole, Florida, 33772; by phone 1-800-882-4476; by e-mail: [email protected]; or visit www.PrcicticeStcirters. com.
