show them the invoice to prove that we don't make any money by
marking up items.
Next, we had to determine how much surgeons wanted to get paid.
Working with them to negotiate their fees was an interesting and eye-
opening process. We found that many didn't know what they're worth,
and had to check with their billers to find out what they charge for
the surgeries they perform.
Most surgeons came in a lot lower than we expected. We talked to
the few outliers who would have priced us out of the market to let
them know where we needed to be in order make the self-pay model
work. They were willing to come down a few hundred dollars,
because they saw the big-picture value in the pricing model. We start-
ed with 15 surgeons who were part of the program, and have been
able to recruit 10 more interested surgeons who brought in cases we
weren't currently performing.
There isn't a set profit margin we're aiming for when pricing each
case. We rely more on the current market as a benchmark to set our
prices. We make different amounts on all of our procedures, depend-
ing on what surgeons charge and how much we spend on supplies,
with some per-case profits better than others. But we're turning prof-
its, our surgeons are making money and the patients are happy. It's a
win-win-win for everyone.
Earning trust, and business
Dr. Smith says he wants to make money, but likes to make deals that
are fair for everyone. We're going down the same road. For example,
we charge $2,750 for a hernia repair. One of our self-pay patients from
California was quoted $18,000 at his local hospital for the same sur-
gery. That didn't include fees for anesthesia or the surgeon's cut. The
4 3
J U N E 2 0 1 5 | O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T
