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Board amends fees policy: equipment charges set at item cost plus 15% and including shipping; fee analyzer documentation requested
Summary
The Dahl Memorial Clinic board approved a first reading of the fees and charges policy and amended it to make equipment and supplies not covered by procedure fees chargeable at item cost plus 15% plus shipping; staff will provide documentation from the fee analyzer used to set CPT/fee schedules before second reading.
At the March 27 meeting, discussion of the Establishment of Fees and Charges policy focused on how to price equipment and supplies not included in procedure fee schedules and on how the clinic references fee‑analysis software.
Board members recalled a prior practice that had charged very high markups on some non‑procedure items (e.g., electric wheelchairs). The finance committee recommended a 15% markup. During debate, board member Jeremy and others asked that shipping costs be included when the clinic calculates charges for items purchased for patients. The board voted to amend the policy language to charge such items at item cost plus 15% plus shipping.
Director Wahl said the board uses a fee analyzer by policy (the board referenced an 80th‑percentile practice) rather than maintaining an exhaustive static list of CPT codes; Wahl said staff can print the current analyzer output and will bring adopted fee information and the analyzer reference to the next committee meeting for the second reading.
Quotable: Director Wahl said: “It is just the analyzer. We put the CPT code in it, and it spits the charge out. How we regulate that in policy is we have a policy of 80 fifth percentile of the fee analysis.”
Ending: The board approved the first reading as amended and asked the finance committee and staff to provide the analyzer documentation and the attachments referenced in the packet prior to second reading so the board can adopt a final fee schedule.
