Guest guest Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 kim: great question, and one that i'm glad you asked, as i've been thinking about this myself after recieving a generous discount from my optometrist/patient and soon afterward having had a couple of practitioners (LAcs) in my area asking me about recieving tx. my thoughts: i think the west. practitioners are accustomed to discounting fees that they inflate for insurance purposes, so when they offer a professional discount of say 20% it doesn't affect them financially in the same way it does us, since we are cash based, with an lower fee schedule to start. that being said, as LAcs commonly trade amoungst one another, it seems to me that offering a prof disc in lieu of trading is a generous professional courtesy. i have not been offered this by other LAc's in my area to whom i've paid for tx; however, it feels like something i would like and am willing to do for a fellow LAc. in need of tx. i like the idea of an unspoken code that this is something we offer to one another. it is quite a complement to have a fellow LAc choose us to recieve tx and improves one's professional standing in her/his area. doctors are another matter, as they make a heck of a lot more $ than we do, and can well afford our lower/reasonable cash-based fee structure. as i said, they inflate their fees because they play the insur game, so 20% off the top for them is not felt in the same way we would feel that pay cut. my 2 cents. i'm interested in others thoughts on this subject. kath On Thu, Mar 6, 2008 at 2:31 PM, K wrote: > Hi everyone, > > Aside from having your friend/collegues give you treatments, is there an > industry standard where we treat each other in our field at a discounted > rate? I'm asking because I recently visited my podiatrist for new orthodics, > and he told me that while they usually cost a certain amount to the general > public, he was giving me the " practitioners " price since I was not part of > the healthcare industry. This got me thinking...what if I wanted to see an > acupuncturist who was not a friend of mine - would they extend that kind of > courtesy towards me? I realize that our fees are based on time and not on > stuff we sell to the patients, but a slightly lowered rate to other > practitioners sounded like a great idea (at least to me). I'd like to know > what others think, and if there is a standard that I am not aware of it > would be great to know about. > > Thanks so much, > > K > > > > ------------------------------ > Need to know the score, the latest news, or you need your Hotmail®-get > your " fix " . Check it out. <http://www.msnmobilefix.com/Default.aspx> > > _____________ > Alumni mailing list > Alumni > http://mail.pacificcollege.edu/mailman/listinfo/alumni > > -- Kath Bartlett, LAc, MS, BA UCLA Oriental Medicine Experienced, Dedicated, Effective Flying Dragon Liniment: Effective pain relief for muscles & joints Formulated by Kath Bartlett, Traditional Chinese Herbalist Available at Asheville Center for , or web order at: https://www.kamwo.com/shop/product.php?productid=17442 & cat=0 & page=1 Asheville Center For 70 Woodfin Place, Suite West Wing Two Asheville, NC 28801 828.258.2777 kbartlett www.AcupunctureAsheville.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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