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Ellie

“So if I understand this correctly, your insurance won’t cover the appointments and you want to argue the bill,” I repeated back to the woman.

“Yes, it doesn’t make any sense why they won’t, and I won’t pay when—”

I swallowed a sigh and kept professional. “You agreed at the time of the appointment that you would cover any balance left over that insurance didn’t cover. That’s standard of any hospital or doctor’s office. It’s not suddenly free because insurance doesn’t cover it, ma’am, and you know this.”

“Fine, but—”

“But I understand insurance and the process can be confusing,” I continued deciding to nip this situation in the bud and handle it all another way… Namely, with the source.

Again.

“And since you came in with a medical issue your children couldn’t possibly have had ,” I told her, giving her the look she deserved as I said it.

“I will adjust the claim and make it clear it was a general wellness check as you thought something was wrong with your children but aren’t a doctor to have diagnosed it. ”

“Yes, of course, and that makes more sense,” she said sheepishly, knowing she was at least partially busted.

“But you are over your allotted wellness visits for your children for the year, so you still have to partially pay for the visit,” I told her firmly. “In the future, I suggest you only use them when needed and for emergencies.”

She bristled at what I was saying. “I wasn’t doing—”

“Dr. Hastings is a great pediatrician, fantastic with kids, attentive to the parents, funny, handsome—I get it,” I said gently, softening my gaze so the single mother in front of me understood that I wasn’t judging her.

“It’s why he is so very, very popular with many mothers, and I’ve seen this situation before. ”

She did a double take, losing her insulted edge and switching to a different emotion… One that should have been embarrassed but was still at least productive for my purposes. “You have?”

“Yes, I have,” I answered. “Dr. Hastings is doing his job to be there for you and your kids. I can understand how easily things can be misconstrued when someone is that friendly and charismatic. You’re not the first person to—”

She got defensive again. “Well, if I’m not the first then clearly it’s not us, and he needs to be—”

“Yes, except there are hundreds of others who understand the roles and have never misconstrued his behavior,” I reminded her a bit more firmly.

“So let’s take this as a needed lesson learned and be glad it was one done quietly and with a woman who understands the situation so it’s not something embarrassing for you. ”

Since you should be embarrassed.

I desperately wanted to add that and hoped she understood that part, but she seemed a bit full of herself and maybe not the sharpest, so… I didn’t think she did.

But at least she understood there was no further to go with me and she was getting the best deal she could.

I told her how much of the balance she needed to pay with what her insurance wouldn’t cover and made it clear to pay now since that was the only way I would waive the late fees. She did and then left.

Which left me to handle the other part of this equation.

The true root of the problem and one on very thin ice with me even if his ego was too inflated to understand that.

I found him at one of the nurse’s stations leaning over and giving a smile that most women loved, but I knew him well enough to want to gag. “Dr. Hastings, your office or mine?”

“Mine is fine,” he said easily before leaning into the people around him. “Oh no, Auntie Ellie is mad.”

A few tried to squash snickers, but the smart ones looked at him like he was nuts to mess with me.

I led the way and sighed when I not only reached his office first, but then had to wait about three minutes for him to catch up. The balls on this man were astounding.

“What’s up, Ellie?” he asked cheerily as he strolled in.

“This is the last warning, Dr. Hastings, and if it happens again, it’s your last day,” I said evenly.

“Is it Ellie with an ‘ie’ or ‘y?’” he pushed before I could finish.

“It’s Ms. Reed, and if you call me Ellie or Auntie Ellie again, you’re fired, Dr. Hastings,” I said firmly. “You’ve had enough warnings and—”

Gone was the good ol’ boy smile and charm, a tight one replacing it and simmering anger filling his eyes. “Let’s remember our places here.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Yes, let’s.

I’m your boss .” I snorted when he opened his mouth.

“Read your contract. I hired you. I have sole discretion to fire you. The board has no say. I’ve told you that before and reminded you that you need to listen to me no matter how many of them you golf with.

I am not just ‘the paper-pushing medical bills admin,’ Dr. Hastings.

“I’m the CAO of this hospital. That’s Chief Administrating Officer.

That means the buck stops here. I’m in charge of all of it basically.

You might look down on it, but the smart people don’t.

And while you are a good pediatrician, you are not the only good pediatrician.

You aren’t even the only good pediatrician we have here .

“And honestly, you come with so many headaches, firing you and hiring an okay pediatrician without headaches we can train to be a great pediatrician sounds amazing.

So please hear me that this is your last chance because the woman who was just in my office was your sixth instance of insurance fraud in two months.

“So that’s just walking in my door because you billed it as procedures or visits for things not possible.

You are a liability to the hospital, and I will not allow it.

It ends now or you’re gone. Do you understand?

This flirting with the single moms to get more easy patient visits that you can bill to insurances is over or you are fired. ”

“Wait, wait, we’ve got a miscommunication or misunderstanding here because the last thing I want is insurance fraud too—Ell—Ms. Reed,” he said firmly, finally seeing the writing on the wall.

“Because you don’t listen to me. You brush me off as the billing department paper pushers and Auntie Ellie,” I reminded him, having a hard time keeping my tone even. Normally, I excelled at that. It was honestly one of my greatest talents.

But Hastings was seriously such a damn douche.

“Okay, you’re right that I’ve been dismissive. I’ll apologize and fix that and I’m listening now.” He held his hands up in surrender as if knowing he was about to deserve wrath. “Please walk me through what happened in your office just now.”

I mentally ground my jaw and gave him the names of the patients and the woman. “Your office billed her insurance for two treatments for Spellengitits infections, Dr. Hastings.” I eased back when he flinched. “Glad you see the problem.”

“No one under twenty has ever been diagnosed with that condition,” he grumbled.

“Exactly. So how does a pediatrician bill for the treatment of it when the patients are five and eight?” I said with my eyebrow still raised.

“That’s insurance fraud, and if six of those instances have come all the way up to my attention in two months , there are more cases.

We have more problems, and it has to stop. ”

“Agreed and immediately,” he said firmly, bobbing his head. “I don’t want to lose my license either. Of course not, and—I just don’t know how this could have happened or what to really—this is just so out of the blue and—”

“Except it’s not ,” I reminded him, almost losing my temper finally. “I’ve reprimanded you about it repeatedly and your office. Except you brush me off and crack jokes about—”

“Okay, I get it now and—”

“Interrupt me one more time and you’re fired,” I warned him.

“You have brushed me off enough. This time you will listen to the whole lecture and pay attention. You will hear me what the problem is and which of your staff is the main issue. Mostly you need to stop flirting and being friends with them and make them do their jobs .”

He swallowed loudly and slowly sat down, making it clear he was ready for what I had to say.

And I had a lot to say. I was a patient woman.

I knew there was a lot of bullshit when it came to hospitals—even to just medical facilities or doctors’ offices.

But there was an extra layer of it when it was a huge hospital like ours that was one of the best in the nation that people traveled from all over the world to get treatment from some of our doctors.

But Hastings had pushed too hard for too long and on too many of my hot buttons, especially the one that could get the hospital in serious trouble while being dismissive about the whole thing. So I was done being patient and understanding.

Hell, I hoped I got to fire him and a few of his staff now. I was already planning on looking for his replacement, and the board could kiss my jiggling ass.

“Next week’s appointments will not be paid out to you and the bonus structure,” I told him as he headed to leave with the written write-ups and formal warnings.

I gave him a look daring him to try me when he spun around and opened his mouth.

“I suggest you spend the time reassessing your appointments.”

“I can’t help if the parents make appointments,” he defended.

“No, but I suggest you check their level of insurance coverage before you flirt with the damn moms,” I drawled.

“And for every one that comes back to my office and I have to deal with, it’s another week.

” I gave a half shrug when he opened his mouth.

“Or quit. Tell the board why I’m pushing this and the liability this is for their cushy jobs and even your golfing buddies will agree. ”

He ground his jaw and gave a swift nod. “I understand, Ms. Reed. It won’t happen again or people will be fired. I’ll make sure to keep you updated on the situation and cleanup.”

“I’m glad to hear you’re finally going to take this seriously.” Because I’d finally hit his money. Asshole.