I have been in the Hearing Healthcare Industry for over 30 years.  In that time, we have experienced many seemingly insurmountable obstacles that eventually were solved.  The solutions to these obstacles seem to appear sooner when we, as the providers, start with the patient and work backwards to the solution.  We must ask first, “What is in the best interest of the patient?”.  As a manager of a team of audiologists, I also ask myself, “are we also taking care of what the provider needs to do their very best work?”.

For the past 10 years in our practice, third-party payer networks have been a source of endless frustration for our patients and providers.  First, insurance verification is a time-consuming process that often confuses patients, discourages providers and costs money.  Many practices find they need to add long and ongoing training to help clinical staff handle more and more insurance conversations with patients. Even smaller practices are finding the need to hire full-time office staff to manage verification & training support, which can cost upwards of $45,000 plus benefits annually. Secondly, many of the third-party insurance programs restrict the hearing instrument brand and level of technology that can be fit.  This takes the provider out of the clinical decision process, and puts the patient’s needs last.  Finally, denied claims, partial and delayed reimbursements, reduced fitting fees, and required free follow-up care, results in a low revenue, zero-profit financial outcome for the practice, making it difficult to maintain high-quality provider staffing.  

We review & adjust our third-party payer mix as necessary. For patients who have benefits where we are out-of-network providers, we now have a hearing aid benefit solution.

After much research and testing, 1st Choice Hearing Benefits is our first choice.

We have rolled out this program across our practice and are seeing wonderful results as it relates to patient satisfaction. Also, our providers are happier, and profitability with this patient benefit category is increasing.  The program can be used as an alternative for any patient. The patients love it because most of the time it is less expensive than if they claim their benefits.  My providers like it because they have the flexibility to fit the brand and technology level that best suits the patient.  Also, the overall practice benefits because the fitting fees are generally higher than most carriers.

As the Director of Audiology, I am always looking for a program that will be easy to use.  With 1st Choice, there are no contracts or minimum commitments of units.  You simply get login credentials to the portal and can begin using the program immediately.  Training is available online if necessary. 

1st Choice also offers insurance verification so you and the patient can fully understand their benefits and has great flexibility in the forms of payments that the patient can use. 

1st Choice has fixed our third-party problems and I believe they can solve yours as well. 

If your interested in learning more – check out this short video or email info@1stchoicehearingbenefits.com for more information or to schedule training and enrollment.

Dr. Patricia Ramos is the Director of Audiology and Rehabilitative Services at ENT and Allergy Associates of Florida, and the President & Co-Founder of the Network of Medical Audiology Professionals.