Thousand Oaks, CA (PRWEB) May 28, 2014 -- In April 2014, Medicare made public its payments to doctors for the first time, according to Dr. Mai Brooks. The figures reported reflect total reimbursements for the year 2012. Most payments are in the 4 to 5 digit range. However, there are some cases where several hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars are listed.
It should be kept in mind that the amount listed by Medicare does NOT equal the individual physician's income, according to Dr. Brooks. In some cases, a medical practice may have multiple practitioners who submit their billing under one head doctor's name. Many specialists have to pay for the drugs that they buy to administer to patients in their office. Then, they bill Medicare for the drugs. So, the money sent to the doctor essentially then goes to the drug company. Many new drugs used in arthritis, eye disease, etc. are very expensive. Novel cancer drug treatments can cost up to $100,000 per patient. Plus, there is the expense of hiring nurses and buying supplies needed for the infusion of these drugs in the doctor's office.
The Medicare amounts are then subtracted by the cost of "overhead". This includes office rent, electricity, medical supplies, etc. The doctor also uses this Medicare reimbursement to pay for the office staff, such as nurse(s), physician assistant(s), receptionists, biller and accountant. Then, next comes medical malpractice insurance, which can be over $100,000 in US states that do not have a liability cap. Finally, what's left over after all these "overhead" costs is the doctor's gross income.
To contact Dr. Mai Brooks, visit her website or call her Thousand Oaks offices at (805) 379-4677.
Dr. Mai Brooks, Mai Brooks, M.D. - A Medical Corporation, http://drbrooksmd.com/index.html, +1 (310) 489-0980, [email protected]
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