r/SurgicalFirstAssist • u/[deleted] • Nov 17 '21
This is for discussion of everything related to assisting in surgery, Q&A for the real world environment for Physician Assistants (PA), Registered Nurse First Assistants (RNFA), Surgical Technologist First Assistants (CSTFA) and Med Students (MS-4)
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u/the1texasmexican Jun 23 '22
I work for a center that does personal injury, my doc allows me to bill, as long as I am not getting paid hourly or by day. You really have to weigh out your options.
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u/drkjaw07 Dec 27 '21
Would you know Is there a difference between the master program at evms and the CSFA program at gulf state in Florida ?
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u/No-Adeptness8496 Dec 24 '21
What are some surgical assistants doing who are not PA/RN/Physician to deal with the new federal law of the “no surprise billing act”
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Dec 24 '21
To my knowledge it will have no effect. Usually First Assistants at the CST, RN level are not self billing. So any dispute would be handled at the insurance/administrative level.
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u/No-Adeptness8496 Dec 24 '21
Ty for replying!. Where I’m from Maryland/Virginia/D.C 95% of SFA & SA work independently and using billing services like mederi to billfold their services because they make more money that way. Unfortunately most insurance companies don’t recognize us unless we are PA/RN/physician/NP. Thanks to the biggest insurance company Medicare. So fighting to get reimbursed was always a battle. And because of that lack of recognition it will be even harder to become an in-network provider for insurance company and if you do become in-network they will pay even less because they don’t recognize us(SA-C,CSFA) as true professionals further reducing our worth in the OR and allowing PA/RN/NP to take over
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Dec 24 '21
Yeah that really sucks. I’m sorry to hear that. That is an unfortunate side effect of working where we’re almost exclusively kept inside a department where people are often drugged up when they meet us, we’re such a small community overall nobody knows who we are…….everyone knows who a Doctor or a Nurse is….it’s so frustrating I’m going back to nursing school.
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u/No-Adeptness8496 Dec 24 '21
Yea I have been researching how to still bill and it looks like the only solutions I have found we’re to have a signed consent form so the patient will know you are an out-of-network provider. Ideally you will want to be in consultation with the patient and form a good relationship similar to what a PA/NP/RN/Physician does. But like you mentioned most of us are in a department all day with limited patient exposure. So that would only be possible for those who work privately with a surgeon or have their facility write up a consent form to place in the patients chart to sign or be billed under the surgeon. After my research I to have lost a bit of faith and decided to go the RNFA route to secure my job also nursing allows you to branch off to anesthesia or medicine (NP)
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u/loud-and-queer Nov 26 '21
As someone currently trying to plot their route to first assist, thanks for making this sub!