There are a lot of reasons to come to an in-person conference. Top-notch speakers, invaluable education, and amazing, hilarious anecdotes. Here’s one shared by Devona Slater, CHA, CMCP, CHC, during the anesthesia pre-conference:
An anesthesia group noticed that it had stopped receiving payments from a major private payer. The practice couldn’t figure out what happened.
Was it under a pre-payment audit?
No.
Was the practice or the payer the victim of hackers?
No.
Were the payments going to a doctor’s bank account?
Yes. And the payer was partially to blame.
It turns out the payer had instructed a doctor, who was new to the practice, to submit her enrollment information. She did so. But because she didn’t understand the process, she included some of her personal bank account information. And the payer -- which may have been confused as well -- started sending all of the practice’s payments to the doctor’s account. Unfortunately, this was a bank account that the doctor didn’t watch closely, so she didn’t notice she was getting richer. Fortunately, she let her employer know as soon as she figured out the mistake, and the money was transferred back to the practice. But this amazing tale proves that practices can't be too vigilant about their revenue. And that every practice needs an enrollment specialist.