In the last issue, I shared with you the first secret to negotiating an increase: As a provider, you have no value to an insurer.

I said, "You can argue all day long with an insurer about how great you are, about how poorly you're reimbursed, about this and this and that and that.  And... when the day is over they will simply close out their email inbox and forget you."

In this issue, I'd like to life your spirits a bit and share the second secret to passing along an increase.

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Having reimbursement data gives you a number of advantages.  Chief among them is knowledge about what the market is for your services.

As a healthcare practice, you sell your services to insurance companies while providing the services to patients.  This is different from most industries where the purchaser and receiver of services is the same person or entity.  Recognizing this distinction is critical to successful negotiations.  Recognition and acceptance of this distinction will shape your strategy.

Let's consider a healthcare marketplace where the purchaser and receiver are the same person and the negotiation strategy that would make sense.  In this scenario, a patient (or receiver of services) is also the payer (or purchaser of services).  If you want more money for an office visit -- a 99213 -- you would ask the patient or receiver of services to consider the value of what you provide.  And, you would ask them to pay more money.

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Did you know that Best Buy negotiates?  A friend of mine bought a washing machine and discovered, much to her pleasant surprise, that salespeople at Best Buy have up to 5 percent discretion.  I didn't know this, but, now knowing, I will never pay full price again.  

You might ask yourself, why didn't you know this?  Why isn't this common knowledge?  It's not in any of their promotions or commercials.  

Think about it.  

If everybody knew that Best Buy negotiates, everybody would negotiate.  If Best Buy ran commercials saying it has 5 percent wiggle-room, everybody would shoot for it.

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