I just started a job at a family practice as a patient intake representative. I lost my previous job 2mo ago after 6 years in a different industry by a 5 minute phone call because my position was "eliminated", which really put a wrench in the entirety of my life.. I had to take a $7 pay-cut to accept this position after being unemployed for nearly 2 months, which I was beyond ecstatic to accept! However, its changed my family's life significantly and I'm still not even sure if we can make it work..

I've always been interested in the medical field so this position brought me a lot of joy to accept; however the pay that was offered was a lot less than I had expected due to of my lack of medical experience, even after negotiations because of prior applicable experience. I know we're going to struggle to make ends meet for a while, but I do like the position a lot so far and I'd like to stay if I can make it work, so I'm trying my best to do anything within my power to move up as quickly as possible because this specific practice is associated with a major local hospital and I know there is a lot of room for growth there, and I would like to make a career out of this.

I'm looking for suggestions to boost my skills, knowledge, certifications, literally anything at this point.

I've been catching on to the general office procedures pretty quickly so that has been my main focus, and I know a lot of this job just requires experience to excel, but I figured I would throw it out there to the patient rep veterans, the MA's, and the Docs. It could be as simple as "don't bother your doc or MA with this type of request" or maybe even "take this certification course to add to your skill set" I'm open to any and all suggestions at this point if it helps!

I have a ton of customer service experience, so that part is locked down well and patients have been very receptive and happy with me so far, but I want to learn more, do more, be better. I'm open to anything and everything, I just want some advice from anyone that's been in the field for a while because no one in my office seems to want to help, and catching my office manager has proven to be difficult unless she has a specific complaint she wanted to coach me on. I've inquired with a lot of my coworkers, but a lot of them are clearly in a slump; it actually baffles me the way they take phone calls and handle patients. No smiles, no warmth or empathy- it kills me to watch them handle a patient intake or a phone call with such coldness. I want to be better whether or not it moves me up, because no one that is in pain or suffering deserves to deal with someone unkind at their PCP's office.

I know I am capable of so much more, I just don't know where to start to improve myself beyond the basics of checking in patients and handling med refills.

TLDR: At this point, any and all suggestions are welcome. I've been set back 6 years in my career and I need to move forward as quickly and efficiently as possible, and I'm just looking for suggestions on where to start!

I work in a major hospital in a large city. YES I'm empathetic and sympathetic to people's situations. But here's the thing...when I register you to see a patient...please don't assume I know you from the day before. Please don't come to my window telling me the back story of who you're visiting. Please don't walk up and say you're visiting without stating whom you're visiting i.e. Im here to see my father (pause) without saying the name. Please don't stick an ID in my face unless you are asked for the ID. Please stop spelling names unless you are asked to spell your name. I'm totally assuming you think I am stupid when you spell a name like Jim Brown, Tom White or Robert Green. Believe or not their are some people that actually know how to spell and I am one of those people. Please don't overreact when you have never been to this hospital, trying to go to the maternity ward and you are asked for ID which BTW people in this day and age don't find the need to have, scream and have temper tantrums because no one told them they needed ID. How old are we?? I was always told to have ID since I was 18??? Please don't get an attitude when you are asked to get a new time dated stamp your pass says Thursday but it's now Saturday. We understand you've been staying at the hospital and you left to go home and freshen up. Just update your pass. And please don't get upset when you are asked to stand in line instead of being 2 inches from the person who is being helped when their are signs actually telling you where to stand. And please don't walk up telling me the room number of the patient...very rarely do we go by that because rooms change frequently.Thats all for now I may think of some more later! Thanks!

I’ve worked my medical receptionist job for almost a year. I’ve had nothing but meltdowns once a month, migraines, panic attacks that I’ve never experienced before, I’ve also lost 30 pounds since December due to not being able to take lunch breaks or ANY kind of break for that matter most days. Co workers call out constantly or leave early. I’m the only admin of the place yet I am forced to answer the “nurse triage line” if it rings and google an answer. I have to do billing jobs bc the billing person sits on her ass at home and doesn’t lift a finger. We don’t have HR or a practice manager at that. I can go ON and ON. I’ve started drinking a bottle of wine at night along with needing adhd meds to literally function at work, leading me to taking more than I should sometimes due to extremely long days. All I do is complain about this shitty job to my husband and we barely even hang out anymore because I just hide in the bedroom due to being too overstimulated from the day I’ve had. I wanna leave so bad. I absolutely hate who I’ve become. No job is worth losing yourself over.

Does every patient bring a photo ID? Can they bring an ID that has no photo? What happens if their religion does not allow to take photos on their photo ID?

I wonder how people who vote without voter photo ID manage their lives?

I recently got a job offer for a medical receptionist float position, meaning if they need me to travel 45 minutes from my home town to their other facility to cover lunches or cover someone’s day off or “ in case of an emergency “ I would have to, also meaning in my home town I would have to travel 15 minutes between the two facilities that are in my home town, whenever they need me at whichever facility needs the coverage. I was just wondering has anyone ever had a job like this ? Is it worth it?

My wife started working for a hospital recently and is being told that she has to bring her own folders and to do the scanning needed she needs to bring her own scanner. This sounds hokey to me is this a thing in hospitals?

some dude who drank household cleaner and had his large intestine hooked up so he can eat again. he was african american. I saw it on an er story or whatever.

Moral of this story. We need a way for patients that are immobile to be xrayed while staying in the hospital beds. Better patient docter communication.

Little background information: My hospital story started in 2015, the story im talking about here was in 2022. And it is still ongoing. Got 7 surgeries to my name at the moment.

During my time in the hospital, I had some pretty insane encounters. One of the most unforgettable moments happened right after I had surgery in my hip (6 screws where placed in my hip) the condition was epifysiolyse. Not even three hours later, I was asked to get an X-ray. They rolled me into the X-ray room on my bed, and the assistants asked me to move onto the X-ray table. I couldn't help but tell them "I don't know if you know this, but I just had surgery. Maybe not the best idea for me to get out of bed."

The assistants then offered to grab the sheets underneath me and lift me over. I had to explain that even the slightest movement was painful, so that wasn't an option. Finally, they slid a plate under me, trying to avoid moving me too much. But they insisted I lower my hips, which, fresh out of surgery, was impossible for me. I was sitting with a hunched back and my chest was forward. My body did this to minimise the pain i had no control over this. They ended up forcing me into an incredibly uncomfortable position that left me in agony.

The days following that incident were hellish. The pain was so intense that my discharge, originally scheduled for four or five days later, got delayed. The doctor was puzzled and ordered another X-ray. This time, they were a bit more gentle, but I still felt the pain. The doctor came to see me while I was eating dinner and dropped a bombshell: I needed another emergency surgery because: 1. some screws had fractured a part of my hip bone. 2. which another docter told me that the screws broke/moved.

they didnt wanna admit that the assistents probably screwed it.

I mentioned that I'd just eaten, knowing that you're not supposed to eat or drink six hours before surgery, but they didn't have time to wait. After the second surgery, I woke up with a tube in my neck, which no one had warned me about. I complained about the pain in my throat, only to find out it was from the tube.

I ended up staying in the hospital for another week or two and spent a few months in a wheelchair afterward. Then with crutches and 9+months with physiotherapy. It was a wild, painful, and downright bizarre experience, but it's one I'll never forget.

Having worked reception for GPs before, I know that there are some clinics that have 'emergency' appointments that are blocked off and not booked for regular appointments, only saved for urgent ones. That being said, the neurologist I currently work for doesn't do that. They have times set aside for various levels of urgency, but they're very strictly for different kinds of appointments (eg urgent new patient, regular new patient, review, etc). Not only that but even within these categories he's booked out months in advance. So when I tell people that the very next available appointment is a few months out and they ask me if there are any 'emergency times' I can put them in... well... no, there aren't??? If there was an earlier time available I would have told them that. I don't get anything from hiding appointments from people.

Besides that, I'm not a nurse or a doctor. I'm not medically trained at all. I don't have the authority or experience to triage neurological disorders and figure out if it's actually 'urgent' compared to all of the other cases. I understand that people want to get big problems like that solved quickly, but how am I meant to know if dizzy spells are more or less serious than someone's epilepsy or migraines? The doctor got their referral and told me which category of urgency it's in, I'm certainly not going to ignore his instructions bc of someone over the phone pressuring me with long pauses and a condescending tone.

Hello all, so long story short I've been back and forth between wanting to pursue either being a medical receptionist or a pharmacy tech. I have a background in phlebotomy (wasn't for me) and have been wanting to go back into healthcare. My community college offer a medical receptionist class as well as a pharmacy technician class. I know class isn't really needed for either but I feel like it would be helpful for me to go. I also have 3+ years of customer service. Which path would be easier to find a job faster and which path is less stressful?

So this is something that still bothers me and I think it will help to share. I’m a PCT at my local hospital and I work on one of the upper units in critical care. Not intensive but telemetry. I had this one pt she came in for a mild stroke. She was doing fantastic, she was amazing and sweet and her family was just the same. They asked us the day before about doing a birthday party for their mother and was wondering about our safety regulations. I work nights so the party happened before I came in. I got onto the unit and was clocking in as I head the code alarm go off and I responded. She choked on some candy she got for her birthday and was already blue when the day shift NA found her. (Which the NA couldn’t be bothered to help) I jumped in and started helping with compressions. This went on for about 30 minutes. The doctor was present at this time and the family was called with the update as the code was active. The family was instructed to wait away from her room but then the doctor went out and collected the family. (Husband, daughters, sons, grandchildren.) at this point the chest compressions have destroyed her chest and isn’t responding. Complete mush when you went down the chest didn’t come back up. I was still in active compression as they wheeled in her entire family. (We are still in the active code.) the husband pushed past and was grabbing onto her the sons and daughters crowded the room and the wailing still tears at my heart when I think of this moment. The looks I got as I’m actively pumping this woman’s chest made me start to tear up and I just think it was wrong to bring them all into that. Along with it was wrong to put us through that. Does anyone have any thoughts?

For anyone working in the medical field, as a receptionist, do you handle Release of information or is that a different department?

Also, for any medical receptionists, who have worked in hospital vs a physician’s office, or a smaller office, like clinics. What was the difference between them vs your job duties and your experience working there?

And have you ever had to learn CPR for your job?

Hi, Was just curious for any medical receptionists out there.

Have you ever been sued by a patient and what happened? I know doctors get sued from time to time but was curious if that happens to medical receptionists as well.

Hi, was just wondering for anyone working as one what do medical receptionists typically do?

Did you do any schooling in order to become a medical receptionist? Or is the on-job training enough? Thinking of getting the RHIT.

Is the job easy to learn and do? Do you earn a good enough salary? What do you typically earn? Are the hours good?

Are there any specialties you enjoy working in over the other? Like in a dental office, vs neurology, etc.

A middle-aged man came to the ER to be evaluated for night sweats. He feels fine when he goes to bed and he wakes up drenched in sweat. Night sweats are a sign of tuberculosis, so some follow-up questions are in order.

He has no fever, no cough, no pain, no other complaints whatsoever.

He does use a blanket, but it's not very thick.

He then adds, "I take care of my disabled son whose bed is next to mine. I keep the thermostat at 76F for him, and the vent is right above my bed."

Well, there you go.

Question for Medical Receptionist

Hi, For any Medical Receptionists out there, what is your day typically like at work?

Did you receive training on how to work fax machines, landline phones and scanning, copying documents and using other office operations and machines, like scanning or making a copy of a patient’s insurance card and ID when first starting out? Did you receive training on checking patients in and out and how to work with the EHR system? Did you receive training on HIPAA?

Does where you work give you your own IDs?

How exactly do medical receptionists know how much to bill the patient?

Is there a quota of patients you have to meet?

Do you have to use any knowledge of human anatomy when working, or is it more medical terminology? And does where you work have a list of approved abbreviations and medical terminology that is used where you work?

Have you ever had to do a subpoena, or appear in court and have been asked questions about a health record?

How do you apply and use HIPAA when working? Did you have to sign anything, regarding HIPAA before you started working as a medical receptionist? Or when you received your credentials like RHIT?

When leaving a message from a patient to a doctor, about certain test results, or other questions. How do you know what doctor to leave a message to? Do you leave a message to the doctor that ordered the test, or the one that read it?

How different is it working as a medical receptionist in the front vs the back?

Are certain health facilities more busy than others, like neurology, hospitals, clinics, etc?

How do you check a patient’s Eligibility and benefits with their insurance? If calling an insurance company , what is a tax ID number, and how do you know what it is?

When sending referrals how do you know what information to put in? Do you check and send prior authorizations? If so, what are the steps in doing

Edit 1:

Do medical receptionists, have complete access to a patient’s entire record or do they have access to only certain parts of a patient’s record?

And for any who has a RHIT certification, worked as a medical receptionist? Thinking of getting an RHIT, to work as a medical receptionist.

For some background, I work reception at a freestanding ER. We had a premie brought in, in respiratory arrest which our doctor attributed to SIDS. I alerted clinical staff right away and they got to working on him but after 40 futile minutes the doctor called it. Now I can’t stop thinking about it, I understand since I’m not a trained professional there wasn’t much I could do but I feel like I failed since I am trained in CPR. I was in charge of recording and getting ahold of EMS but I feel like there was more I could have attempted to help with since I was there the whole time. It’s overwhelming and my management has been very supportive but like I said I can’t stop thinking about this. I guess I’m really just trying to rant and get this off my chest and want some advice on how to deal with this.

I work overnights as a safety companion at a hospital. My job is to keep high risk patients safe (suicidal, homicidal, any other psych case, geriatric, ICU) you get the point. As safety companions, we have 2 positions we rotate through, either 1:1 care or we get put in the call center where we monitor patients through cameras and give redirections ands alert staff via speakers need be. we share the same office as the phone operators so we hear every call, especially if put on speaker.
It was roughly 5am and no calls have come through all night. The phone operator decides to use the restroom and sets the phone to offline or whatever it is they do when they need to step away from the phone. While she was gone, there was some type of power outage, my computer was working just fine but the lights flickered and i heard beeps coming from the phones. A few minutes later a call starts coming through, it stops ringing just as the phone operator was opening the door to step back into the call center. I let her know she missed a call and she looks confused as she mentions that shouldn't of happened. She calls the number back but no answer.
A few min later the phone goes off and this young lady is on the other end, clearly impaired. She's confused as to who she's calling or even why she's calling. The phone op. is clearly flustered and keeps asking unimportant and confusing questions. They get to a point where the young lady goes, "I keep going in and out of sleep, but I don't want to go to sleep because I feel like somebody drugged me and i don't feel safe." Again the phone op. keeps asking stupid and unimportant questions, she asked "where are you located" and the lady on the phone manages to say she's "in a barn in the courtyard".
The phone op. keeps asking what town she is in but the lady on the phone stops answering. Phone op. keeps probing for a response and we hear the phone drop. Phone op. keeps shouting "Ma'am?! Ma'am?!" but no response. She had to hang up the phone because nobody was answering. The only information we had about this lady was her name because of her voicemail being set up, and a phone number. The phone operator called the local police department and gave told them what happened. Police department said they'd call back if they needed any more information, and that was the end of that. I had a pit in my stomach thinking about what i just listened to. I go back to work today, I wonder if i can get any new information.

So, everyone on Reddit was right - the pain after hemorrhoidectomy is the worst possible pain you can imagine.

I am on day 5 and while I can get by my day with just advill, when I have BM, I cry - it’s the most excruciating pain you can imagine, think razor blades cutting you inside your ass.

Everyone recommends Miralax to make sure your poop isn’t too “hard” so in theory when you have BM it hurts less. That works in theory but the issue is that when you take Miralax, you have 3-4 BMs per day!

I’d rather have 12/10 pain every other day than 11/10 pain 4x a day.

TLDR: Miralax makes you poop very often and with every BM, a part of your soul does. Don’t take it, I just switched to Imodium because I’d rather cry once every other day than multiple times a day.

My two cents.

I work as a receptionist at a small private practice ophthalmology office. It’s just the doctor and the receptionists (for a while it was just two receptionists, there are 4 including me now).

In addition to answering phones/scheduling appointments/faxing paperwork, I’m also responsible for creating new patient charts, entering their medications, billing (going over EOBs, entering insurance payments into patient accounts, sending them bills) claiming exams and ordering materials if they’re getting glasses or contacts, sending prescriptions in, handling referrals, surgery scheduling, completing visuals fields and OCTs, doing prescription checks if patients have issues with their eyeglass/contact lens prescriptions, repairing glasses, maintaining sample contact lens & frame inventory, contacts lens trainings, and cleaning the office! I feel more like a mix between an office manager, ophthalmic technician, and optician.

I used to work full time (37.5 hours a week) with a paid lunch, so basically nonstop work for ~9.5 hours a day. I have no benefits.

I recently got a part time job in my field and am working less hours at the doctors office, but because I’m the most tenured employee, I’m expected to do everything while also training the other 3 employees in the ~24 hours a week I’m working. I am extremely burnt out and considering quitting, but I don’t want to screw everyone over by leaving. Is this just how medical offices are, or have I been taken advantage of?

Girl in her 30s comes into the ER with an ear ache for several days. Her boyfriend is with her.

"We tried a home remedy, but it didn't help."

What did you try?

"Well, my boyfriend looked up what to do for an earache on Google, and then he convinced me to let him...pee in my ear..."

Ok...

This story has some ick factor, but not much. So a little back story. I was a Shriner's kid. Aged out at 18 so I've seen A LOT. I've also had 3 major reconstructive surgeries on my foot just to walk mostly normal. I even had a paper written on my case. Due to spending 18 months on crutches, I can't move my left leg in a way that allows me to see the outer toes. I also like to laugh.

I've been seeing a specialist through my local hospital system. He's AMAZING. He actually said, "I don't know." He also cleans up his own messes. No really, he exists. Over the 7 years, he's had a few nurses cycle in and out. The current nurse, "K", is the BEST.

I have no sensitivity in the area being worked on. To the point I had a push pin in it for three days without noticing. Among the things being done is a debriding. 20 minutes worth and with no anesthetic. So K was new. She came in after the doc was finished, properly disposing of the two worn scalpels, and began the process of dressing the site. She put sterile water onto a gauze pad and just as she touched me, I went "TSSSS!" like I was in pain. She looked up at me and saw me laughing. I explained that the nerve for the area had been removed so have at it. She did. In passing, I also mentioned that the back side was hard to get at. I got wrapped and sent home. When I go to remove the bandage, I discovered that it had been taped along the pinky toe side to the ankle. And a few cross pieces on top. All this I'd have to remove by touch. Next visit, I pointed out the situation. "Going to behave now?" she said with a grin. Well, no. But that's part of the fun.

Moral of the story, As I once read, be kind to nurses- they pick your catheter size. They also know how to JUST be a pest.

I'll make this quick since I'm really tired but I was offered a medical receptionist job by my doctor. It's my very first job and not only am I not in the medical field but I also have had a ton of academic struggles that have surfaced back up because unfortunately I'm unable to get treatment or self-accomodate for my sleep struggles (long story). I'm also super terrified of the own people I'm supposed to talk to because a lot of them are my parents' age and I can't shake the feeling they're going to be just like my parents. (Though I will say, in terms of getting use to talking to middle-aged adults and older, I'm getting better as time goes on, so there's something at least).

I originally took the job because I really needed some sort of income independent from my parents and when I accidentally let it slip to my doctor that I was searching for a job and haven't heard from anyone due to my previous lack of experience, he offered and being desperate for money I took it. It also doesn't help they called my parents (was busy, couldn't pick up the phone for the day) and then my parents told their relatives and to make a long story short they basically kept celebrating that the one kid they thought was too stupid to do anything finally got a job. (This isn't how I see myself, this is just how my family sees me)

It's... a lot. I don't know how you guys do it. There's so much multitasking and so much to do - even if I'm just paid to pick up the phone and deal with fax it's still stressful because I feel like every phone call and half of the fax I get is just a completely different experience I have no clue how to handle. Not being in the medical field means I have no clue what most things mean; not being immersed in insurance means I have no clue what guidelines are for all of this. Not being a quick learner means I'm screwed.

For context, I keep making small mistakes, unable to remember most things and as much as I do try leaning to my coworkers, they're all busy with more important things and I feel embarrassed when I know it's something I was taught but don't remember. I had a notebook to write it all down but shoutout to my mom for misplacing it somewhere when I accidentally left it in my car. So I'm back to square one, on week three.

I know some tricks to help me remember things. It took so many years to develop but I have them; they just take too much energy to actually do anymore cause of my sleep disorder. My doctor knows about both of these struggles but thinks I'm just dealing with depression, and even if he did believe me he can't do anything because my parents will fight tooth and nail to make sure I don't get any type of specialized treatment or medication for it, which they have a right to since they're paying for the insurance.

I feel so tempted to quit. I keep thinking of how much I'm screwing my doctor over with mistakes I have trouble fixing and how much this goes on his reputation and license. How much work the job is and if I would be better working at retail or some job where the worst a mistake can do is lose someone I'm never going to be seeing again anyways. How much someone straight out of med school will kill for this job and how it was given to someone without the qualifications for it because I got one-sidedly buddy buddy with the "boss". How every mistake could've been prevented if someone else picked up the phone and every way that can pose the worst consequences for the doctor as a whole.

I won't lie, I keep holding back mainly because of what my family thinks when I quit, though also partially because my coworkers are very nice and are always making sure I'm okay, and I'm not sure if I can find that type of work environment anywhere else. On week two I thought I'd surely improve, then week three hit and now I'm not so sure anymore. I don't know. I just need to let this out of my chest I guess. I'm going to stay for one more week to both see once more if I can handle it and also because that's when I get my check, but if it doesn't work out how I wanted it to then I think I need to quit.

This happened about 15-20 years ago.

We used to do what we called "ER Extended Stays" (which we called "ERX's") for ER patients that needed to be observed for up to 24 hours but didn't actually need to be admitted. Most commonly, these were chest pains that just needed serial lab draws to make sure they didn't have a troponin elevation (which would indicate possible cardiac damage). An ERX would be handed off to the med/surg staff to keep an eye on in one of their rooms, but they were still under the ER doctor's care if anything was needed.

One night, nightshift is on the home stretch - about 6:30am - when suddenly a call light goes off in the last room down the hall. Everyone looks at each other in mild confusion. Nobody has a patient assignment in that room. It's an old building, some old-time night-shifters insist the place is haunted because they see and hear weird shit sometimes. More likely, it's a false signal from the wiring in the ancient call light system. The girls are scared. So Chad strolls down the hall to investigate.

Chad opens the door, and there's a guy just chilling in the bed.

"Hey, I was just wondering if you guys forgot about me! I haven't seen anybody all night!"

Chad's quick on his feet. "No, man, we just wanted to let you get a good night's sleep!"

Turns out, they had dropped off an ERX right before shift change and dayshift med/surg staff forgot to report off on him. ERX patients have to be charted on at least hourly. Needless to say, there was a lot of frantic back-charting of phrases like "Patient resting quietly in bed" and "No needs voiced".

I was writing up a guy in his 40s with a complaint of tachycardia and palpitations.

He tells me, "I have Wolff-Parkinson-White, so sometimes my heart rate gets really fast. But I'm usually able to fix it with a Kegel Maneuver."

"A... Vagal Maneuver?"

"Yeah, that."

I finally Quit my job (at a Internist office)last month, and started working from home, making a lot more (with full benefits)

Here are some reasons I quit: (#11 is super crazy)

1. I started taking my supervisor's position when she went on maternity leave. My manager/owner promised me higher pay. I've gotten a 25 cents pay raise since I started. My pay is just $2 above minimum in my state.

2. I don't get PTO or Paid Sick Leave. When I asked, he said it's because it's company policy, and it'd be unfair to other offices.(why?) Also he said back in his days working at a large firm, he didn't get PTO until 2nd year. Mind you, I worked 2 years already, and thought I've got PTO saved up. I haven't gotten A single PTO or Paid Sick Leave, and I work 32-36 hours a week. (I'm pretty sure it's illegal not to give paid sick leave, in my state)

3. Horrible office environment. No break room, so we eat, unmasked, in the front desk. Microwave doesn't work because it'll cause a power outage. The chairs don't work. The computers don't work, or work like snail pace(we don't even have an email). And we have 4 phone lines, but 1-2 front desk. No wifi. And worst of all, the desks are so short that I have to crunch my back/neck to see the top half of the monitor(I still have to visit chiropractor every week to fix my hunch). AC doesn't run in summer.

4. Often given jobs clearly outside my jurisdictions, without addition compensation. He wants me to do MA work, draw blood, do pre-op forms, all forms, etc. (Mind you, I get paid about $16.25 an hour). Our MA gets paid Receiptionist Salary($16 an hour, minimum is 15 in my state). I often have to do medical charts, add prescription, call insurance for PcP change on patient's behalf(this takes really long time). Billing. Etc. P.S, my boss recently found out he lost a lot of money because he hasn't been billing patients on time. He didn't know Medicaid has a 3 month policy, and he's been billing them 9+ months after patient's visits.

5. Always an excuse why we can't get a raise. He spent $16000 to put the Office name in news paper. But he doesn't want zocdoc, yelp, or Google, because "people can leave bad reviews" because sometimes they have to wait up to 3 hours. He said if we do a better job recruiting patients, that money could've gone to our salary. (We are not recruiters, nor are we handing out flyers in the streets after work!)

6. Always paid late. This one is a huge one. We get paid late because his (lazy) policy is to start calculating payroll at the 15th of every NEXT month. Emphasis on Start, because he might start on the 18th, and finally submit it to the payroll company on the 26th. And then we see our money in the bank on the 5th-7th of the next next month. I.E, I got my May paycheck on July 7th. There were times where we got paid 2-3 months late. And none of us likes to hound him for our paychecks. He once offered me a check-loan, so that when I get paid, I can pay him back. (Why would I want a loan for my own paycheck).

7. Ridiculous policies. On a stressful day, like when we were scheduling regular patients, on top of 40 Moderna Booster patients + flu shot patients. (We have 1 doctor, and No NP), things get stressful. So he'd treat us to lunch. My coworker usually pays, and instead of writing a check, or Venmo, he goes through the Payroll company for a $33 lunch. And most of the time, my coworker doesn't get her money back because he'd forget. I laughed when he said he'll send a request to payroll one time, for a $1 water bottle that my coworker bought for a patient.

8. No benefits. Our company has health insurance, but it only applies to my manager(he's the owner), and the Doctor (his wife). Recently, my coworker insurance expired, so they enrolled her under the company insurance policy, but it's being taken out of her paycheck. So she has to pay $500 a month for a health insurance that has High Deductible, and no dental/vision. Confused is the word. So the rest of us gets no PTO or Sick Days, or any benefits.

9. He often lies to patients about any problems we might have, sometimes even blaming it on us. There are often times walk-in patients who'd go up to him, unwilling to wait. And he'd spoil them and let them see our Doctor first. Later on when other patients that had scheduled appointments complain, he'll tell them FRONT DESK PROBABLY MADE A MISTSKE.

10. Our office is super technologically behind. My PC is the size of the router, and can't even run Word. One pc can't fax, one can't print, one can't use excel, one can't read pdf, one can't use word. It's a mess. Also we have no wifi, because he thinks we'd get hacked. He didn't even want to buy wireless keyboard and mouse.

11. This happened after I quit, but my coworker caught Covid and had to stay home for a week, per the CDC guidelines, she's not allowed back to work until she is symptom free for atleast 5 days. My manager calls her And wants her to do another test on the spot while on call with her, telling her even if it's positive, it could be false positive, and she should still come to work, bc it's unfair to the other coworkers that they'd have to solo/overwork (he had to work front desk that day, and was a mess, as he doesn't know how to do front desk). She later on asked if she could use her paid sick leave that she has accrued (she thought she gets them, because legally, she is entitled to 40 hours per year atleast). He called her a MONEY GRABBER, but later on apologized(and still didn't give paid sick leave).

I just started as a medical receptionist and have been taking notes on how to use the program eclinicalworks, but I’m stuck on something that’s been explained to me and was hoping to find clarity here. I understand how to find the copay that a patient owes, but how do I figure in account balance or patient balance into the payment? ( I can’t remember which one is used)

Any help would be much appreciated and will help me sleep tonight!

Mom brings a 10-year-old boy into the ER. The kid is acting fine, but the area around his mouth and lips is slightly swollen and bluish. Mom is panicked. She'd consulted Dr. Google, and Dr. Google's diagnosis is always terminal. She frantically rushed him to the ER.

The kid is pretty sheepish, he wouldn't tell mom anything and he won't answer any of our questions. Mom assures him he won't be in trouble, we just need to know what's going on.

"Did you fall? Did you run into something? Did you get hit with something?"

Nothing. He won't say anything.

There's no blood in his mouth, no cuts, no loose teeth. He's not short of breath, his oxygen saturation is 99%, his lungs are clear, his capillary refill is fine, his nailbeds aren't cyanotic, he's in no distress. He really looks fine.

The ER doctor is initially stumped, but has a sudden flash of insight.

"Is there any chance you... took a cup and suctioned it to your mouth?"

The kid just drops his head. Mom and Doc look at each other and burst into laughter.

Mom asks how he possibly thought to even ask that. "Well, I have three boys..."

This story comes from a co-worker. She's friends with a dentist, and he told her about a kid he'd been taking care of for many years.

Every time he looked in the kid's mouth, something just didn't look right with one of his upper front teeth. Even with all his expertise he couldn't quite figure it out. It was just...off. It was bizarre.

Finally, after the kid was in his teens, old enough to go to a dental appointment without his mom present, the dentist finally asked him about it.

"Well, you can't tell my mom..."

Turns out, when he was about 6 years old, his older brother had begged their mom to let them throw a baseball back and forth. After much pleading and cajoling mom reluctantly agreed, but was adamant that they needed to play gently! If his little brother got hurt, he was going to be in serious shit!

Naturally, one of the first throws blasted the kid in the face and knocked out a front tooth. His brother, panicking, rinsed off the tooth and then shoved it back into its socket. They swore each other to secrecy and never told mom about the incident.

The older brother did everything right. Almost. Cleaning the tooth off was good. Putting it back promptly was good, because if done quickly there's a decent chance the tooth will be salvaged. Unfortunately, he'd shoved the tooth in backwards.