Your insurer fee rates have not moved in years
"I've been on the same Bupa schedule for seven years. I don't even know what the current rate is or whether I could negotiate it. I just invoice what the system tells me to."
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- A consultant on an unchanged Bupa fee schedule for seven years is likely being paid 15 to 25% below the rate available to peers who have negotiated, a gap worth £18,000 to £30,000 annually on a £120,000 PMI base
- Requesting a current fee schedule from each insurer and comparing it to published rates and peer benchmarks for the same specialty (for example PHIN where available) takes less than a day and establishes the size of the gap before any negotiation begins
- Insurers typically accept a rate negotiation request most readily at contract renewal or in Q1 when budget allocations are being set, timing the approach increases the probability of a positive outcome
- Real-terms income declines year on year as costs rise against static fees
- Revenue growth depends entirely on volume rather than rate improvement
- The consultant is unaware of the size of the gap between their rate and the market
- Opportunity to recover lost real-terms income is missed with every year of inaction
- Inequity with higher-paid peers in the same specialty compounds over time
- Insurer fee schedules are treated as fixed rather than negotiable
- Consultants have no access to benchmark data for their specialty and geography
- There is no professional support available for fee negotiation
- Insurers are not proactive in offering rate increases
- Consultants are unaware that peers in the same specialty are being paid more
How to fix it
Request your current fee schedule from each insurer and compare it to published rates and peer benchmarks for your specialty (for example PHIN where available) Engage a specialist private practice commercial advisor to support a fee negotiation Time the negotiation to coincide with contract renewal or the start of the insurer's budget cycle
Frequently asked questions
Why does this problem persist?
Insurer contracts are signed and not revisited Consultants are unaware that rates are negotiable or how to approach a negotiation There is no benchmark data available to consultants to compare their rates
What is the cost of leaving it unaddressed?
A 15% fee increase on £120,000 of annual PMI revenue generates an additional £18,000 per year without seeing a single additional patient.
This is exactly what I do with UK private practices. Answer the few questions above and I'll come back personally with where to start. Paul.