BUPA Physiotherapy Tender Process

[RLStov]

As you have so rightly said physiotherapists need to think very carefully before agreeing to BUPA's tender agreement.
The idea of a PMI calling the shots on how we treat our patients is a very worrying prospect.
We fought to stop the medics from telling us how to treat patients more than 20 years ago! This is huge backward step if not even more concerning as I doubt if the decisions will made by exeprienced clinicians.
I am baffled as to why the CSP and or Physiofirst aren't more interested in this issue, I understand why they can't discuss costs and pricing but this is about the errosion of our professional autonomy.
I have friend who runs a practice in the USA and if you want to see where this is heading look no further.
She is told by the insurance company, to treat a patient so many times for a particular condition and no more.

[Bupabear]

In this world Bupa divide and rule. Having been told by Bupa that I could only charge patients at the agreed discounted rate, I then find out at a recent course that other physios have been allowed to charge their patients for the shortfall in the Bupa agreed rate compared to their normal rate. Just like Bupa allow the top surgeons to do.

It all boils down to this: we are clinicians not technicians. We are worth more than a 75p wage rise over four years.

75p is the key in the pricing argument in this campaign. 75p, that's all your skills are worth in the world according to Bupa.

[alithephysio]

I have read everyone's views on the BUPA tender with great interest. This may be quite naive, but what is wrong with submitting a tender but not reducing our current fees? Surely if we all did this then they would have to accept that we will not be financially undervalued?

[Wendy Emberson]

One of the emerging big issues here is not just the price, but the incidious removal of our clinical autonomy. We need to think very carefully about giving them enough information about how we treat patients with specific conditions as they may well intend to nail us down on cost per condition and treatment. ie they will only pay for previously agreed treatments in the same way that the dentists have to get pre authorisation for any procedure. We all know that every patient is different and requires subtle, and even not so subtle changes to a treatment plan depending on a very wide variety of variables.my feeling is that people who do tender, at whatever price, are digging themselves a hole that they will find very difficult to climb out of. It is all about control.

[physiobob]

I have read everyone's views on the BUPA tender with great interest. This may be quite naive, but what is wrong with submitting a tender but not reducing our current fees? Surely if we all did this then they would have to accept that we will not be financially undervalued?

Firstly I must agree with Wendy's comments above. This is more about a much larger issue, much more than $$.

If it were just a pricing issue then your thoughts might be fine in some respects. However if you consider the amount of extra work BUPA are asking you to do then you should tender to them for MORE than your fees to other clients. Also they are holding onto those fees for at least 30days post receipt of your invoices. If you only invoice for a client at the end of a treatment this could be months.

Then if you add in your own rate increases as a yearly increase well that is not permitted. You are tendering for 4 years really as you are agreeing to one small increase in yrs 3 and 4. So you should factor that into you current pricing now to account for it now should that small future increase not be enough. After all those considerations you probably would fail their tender process.

That said there are a lot of legal aspects to the contract that actually require you to be at least an insurance broker to agree to. As we do not have those legal skills, by law we cannot agree to any document in the current form.