From time to time you will see requests for medical inspectors or audit hearing panel members, and you may wonder why anyone would want to be a medical inspector and audit their peers.
The Medical Services Commission (MSC) is responsible for administering the Medical Services Plan (MSP), which includes remunerating physicians. As part of administering MSP, audits are conducted to ensure physicians have appropriate billing patterns.
As a medical inspector, you will participate in one or more audits by reviewing medical records to assess whether a physician’s MSP billings comply with billing rules. In this interesting and rewarding role, you will be making decisions about appropriate billing practices in accordance with the MSC payment schedule, and you will also help provide explanations to the physician who is being audited. If appointed as a medical inspector, you will be placed on a call list and asked to participate in audits related to your specialty and/or scope of practice. If you are called, the audit will be scheduled based on your availability, and you will have the option to decline to participate if you are unavailable at that time.
When the Audit and Inspection Committee (AIC) requests an on-site audit of a medical practice, an attempt is made to match the medical inspector with the type of practice being audited. Having a peer physician conduct the review is preferred by both the AIC and the physician undergoing the audit and inspection.
The AIC is accepting applications for medical inspectors from any section, but it is currently looking to fill medical inspector roles for the following specialties:
Inspectors are appointed by the AIC under the Medicare Protection Act. Inspectors are responsible for reviewing medical records in order to assess compliance with the MSC Payment Schedule, the Act, and the Regulations.
Candidates must:
Inspectors are required to:
Medical inspectors are paid an hourly rate derived from the hourly equivalent of Doctors of BC’s sessional rate for GPs or specialists. Inspectors also receive compensation for eligible travel expenses.
If you are interested in becoming a medical inspector, please contact Tara Hamilton, project coordinator, audit and billing, at 604 638-6058 or thamilton@doctorsofbc.ca [10].
—Nick Szpakowicz, MD
Vice-Chair, Patterns of Practice Committee
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This article is the opinion of the Patterns of Practice Committee and has not been peer reviewed by the BCMJ Editorial Board.
Links
[1] https://bcmj.org/cover/april-2020
[2] https://bcmj.org/author/nick-szpakowicz-md
[3] https://bcmj.org/node/7766
[4] https://bcmj.org/sites/default/files/BCMJ_Vol62_No3_billing_tips.pdf
[5] https://bcmj.org/print/billing-tips/why-become-medical-inspector-0
[6] https://bcmj.org/printmail/billing-tips/why-become-medical-inspector-0
[7] http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://bcmj.org/print/billing-tips/why-become-medical-inspector-0
[8] https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Why become a medical inspector?&url=https://bcmj.org/print/billing-tips/why-become-medical-inspector-0&via=BCMedicalJrnl&tw_p=tweetbutton
[9] https://bcmj.org/javascript%3A%3B
[10] mailto:thamilton@doctorsofbc.ca
[11] https://bcmj.org/modal_forms/nojs/webform/176
[12] https://bcmj.org/%3Finline%3Dtrue%23citationpop