People are often surprised that a plastic surgeon would care for Medicare patients under that coverage. Well of course we are not doing cosmetic surgery as a Medicare benefit. That would be illegal.
What do Plastic Surgeons do for the Medicare patient:
Skin Cancer Removal/Reconstruction
Breast Cancer Reconstruction
Wound Care and Reconstruction
Burn Care
&
Hand Surgery
If you have regular Medicare plus or minus a secondary, the process is pretty straight forward. If you have signed over your benefits to an IPA, you are limited to IPA member doctors only and need pre-approval to even be seen by a specialist. I deal with regular Medicare patients every week.
Best Regards,
John Di Saia MD
Why do you waste your time?
I like doing some reconstruction. It is a pain following the rates so I make sure we are profitable though. Negotiating with the IPAs is pretty huge time waster as well.