Critical Drugs Regularly in Short Supply

A disturbing situation has begun occurring in the medical community, and it has to do with the pharmaceutical supply chain management. In a number of cases, critical drugs that are expensive and essential for patients to survive conditions are running into short supply. Almost unheard of decades before, today certain drugs are now not available. The situation is putting affected patients are at risk and the cause seems to be about business.

Reasons

The reasons for drug shortages vary but some stand out. The most basic driver is profit. If a drug company is not making money off a particular product, it discontinues the production to lower operating costs, regardless of whether a small group of patients need that drug. On the flip-side, if a brand name pharmaceutical makes money, the same company may cut off its generic version, forcing buyers to purchase the more expensive brand name version.

In some cases doctors and clinics can sell directly the drugs provided to patients. This creates a mark-up scenario since patients can only get particular drugs from specific doctors providing a given treatment. Cancer treatment is one example that falls into this scenario.

Medical Billing Services for Savvy Physicians

Medical billing services are given out to third party companies in many parts of the world. There are lots of paperwork in medical billing processes and medical experts think that they devote more of their times in preparing of medical invoices and medical claims instead of spending the time in treating their patients. To reform and reposition the medical practice the billing process is given to experts. That is the reason there are many medical billing companies that prepare and send medical claims to the patients and medical insurance companies on behalf of the healthcare providers. Apart from that, medical billing companies help to recover unpaid debts and rectify payment errors if there are any.

The major challenges that face the healthcare delivery over the years in America are payment collection and processing. These result in inefficient medical billing services which often create confusion in the billing and payment process. Some of the medical offices do not have the staff and the resources to handle billing. These pave the way for the reform that brings about medical billing companies.

In United States there are more than seven thousand medical billing companies. The number is so large that even medical service providers find it difficult to select a competent billing company. There are certain tips which these health providers should consider in hiring of billing companies.