Referral orthopaedic fees

Re: Referral orthopaedic fees

Nicola Smith — Mon, 24 May 2010 07:34:20 GMT

My boss has a cert but still wont call himself a specialist, he believes that should just be for diploma or similar holders. I can see what some people are saying that a vet may have become good at something and therefore may get local referals but they should not let clients think they are specialists equivalent to people in referral hospitals. I think to say they have a special interest in is fine.

Re: Referral orthopaedic fees

Nick Shackleton — Sun, 23 May 2010 20:18:01 GMT

I know of some cert holders who are really good at what they do and know and deserve to call themselves specialist, but diploma would/PhD would be preferable!

Re: Referral orthopaedic fees

Phrin Vernon RVN — Sun, 23 May 2010 19:26:40 GMT

[quote user="Nick Shackleton DipAVN(Surgical)VN MBVNA"]

I agree that people should not be calling them specialists when they haven't under taken any further training such as certificate level or better still diploma level.

[/quote]

I may have dreamt it, but havent the RCVS changed the cert qualification now, due to the fact they were not happy with cert holders calling themselves specialists and doing referrals? Diploma holders - no probs.

As I said, I may have dreamt it! lol!

Re: Referral orthopaedic fees

ginny — Sun, 23 May 2010 19:23:37 GMT

I think we should bear in mind that some vets get cases referred because they have become very good at something and have a good local reputation because they are good.

Re: Referral orthopaedic fees

Nick Shackleton — Sun, 23 May 2010 14:46:03 GMT

I agree that people should not be calling them specialists when they haven't under taken any further training such as certificate level or better still diploma level.

Re: Referral orthopaedic fees

Nicola Smith — Sun, 23 May 2010 11:56:05 GMT

I'm not knocking the qualifications and equipment but comparing in our area there are practices charging way over the odds - in fact charging more than other referral centres with more equipment and expertise. There are people doing these types of surgery without the specialist nurses or sometimes without diploma holder specialists and still thinking they can chage extortionate amounts. Indeed there are vets calling themselves ortho specialists with no further qualifications at all, which IMO is very misleading to clients. We always talk our clinets through the referral vets extra qualifcations as sometimes the clinet has gone away and said oh xyz at xyz prcatice is a specialist as well - they just dont understand about the extra qualifications. In our practices opinion noone should call themselves a specialist in something without the relevant qualifications.

What I was trying to get across about charges was that some referral centres with similar staffing, equiment etc are charging three times the price of another which I do not feel can be justified.

I can quite understand them not doing direct claims but imo to charge a 10% surcharge on your bill for paying by credit card is rather excessive. This amounts to a lot of money on a bill of a few thousand pounds.

Re: Referral orthopaedic fees

Nick Shackleton — Sat, 22 May 2010 19:50:15 GMT

[quote user="Sal (the 1st) Holesworth VN CMH Chyp (M)PNLP"]

[quote user="NickyVN"]

Hi, there i a big difference depending on what area of the country but also centre to centre. The cranial cruciate repair depends on what technique is used - the 2 referral centres we use do TPLO and quote around £120-1400, if they are not TPLO then we do anchor and tighrope techniques ourselves, we wouldnt refer them. We have had a couple of dogs had MRI scans and spinal surgery and their all in fee's came to around £2500, but I know of centres where your bill would end up more than double than that. The big variation is a big factor in where we choose to refer to - even insured clients in some centres would quickly exceed their insurance cover and we do not feel their hiked fees reflect the level of care or service in these particuar centres. In fact we had 1 dog who had been referred to a local centre for an MRI scan, did not have any surgery and just had a couple of days of hospitalisation and nursing care eg fluids and they exceeded £4000!! When looking at the bill it was clear thet there as a mark up of 300% or more on some things. This is something we feel very strongly about in our practice as we feel some places are just taking the **** with their fees. Many will not do direct insurnace claims but then also charge a surcharge of approx 10% for using a credit card - lets face it who has this sort of money sitting their current account!

[/quote]

Thing to remember with referral practices are they have the flash equipment they need to make/ confirm a diagnosis and the staff with the training and expertise to make a diagnosis and to use to use said equipment, and deliver the treatment and it all costs money - if everybody had the extra training and staff and specialist equipment then there wouldnt be the need for referral centres. Many dont do direct insurance claims ( which is actually quite common in small practices as well) because insurance companies rarely cover the total costs and then the practice is left out of pocket when client refuses to pay the remainder ( I know I have had to chase clients with debt collection agency for exactly this reason)

[/quote]

I totally agree with you Sal. I worked for many years in 100% referral practices. Many of the nurse had many years of experience between them most been qualified for at least 5 years or and some of them diploma holders and with quite a few working their way towards this qualification. The vets all had Diplomas in their specialised area as well as three holding PhD's, so you see not just the flash equipment but also the extra knowledge held by such staff members.

Re: Referral orthopaedic fees

Sal the 1st — Sat, 22 May 2010 19:37:30 GMT

[quote user="NickyVN"]

[/quote]

Re: Referral orthopaedic fees

Steph Worsley — Sat, 22 May 2010 18:50:21 GMT

as has been said on the prev post it varies from centre to centre, i dont deal with the ortho ref at our place but i know it would vary animal to animal as well!!!

i do know that we tend not to do myelography as we have on site MRI so would use that instead as it is much safer for the animal

Re: Referral orthopaedic fees

Nicola Smith — Sat, 22 May 2010 14:03:43 GMT