In this article, you’ll learn how to see the hidden problems on your medical waste invoices. This can be daunting, but you can use this information to your advantage: these problems actually point to savings opportunities!
Medical Waste Invoice Line Items
Your medical waste invoices should be itemized so you can see exactly what you’re paying for. Invoices that list one lump sum obscure your rates.
Take a look at the invoice below - it has the fuel, energy, and disposal fees listed. It also includes a late fee.
Take a look at the invoice below - it has the fuel, energy, and disposal fees listed. It also includes a late fee.
One of the first things we review for our new clients is their medical waste invoice history. Itemized invoices make it easy to see when your rates increase and which fees increase. Maybe your fuel fees stay static, but the energy charge goes through the roof. Or maybe your late fees suddenly start increasing.
If you don’t have an itemized invoice, you won’t know what fees have changed and which remain the same. This becomes critical for our clients because the medical disposal service contracts we negotiate always contain language that eliminates or caps these fees at a certain rate. If we can’t see the fees, we don’t know if the hauler is charging according to the specifications in the contract.
We make sure that our clients’ invoices are transparent and that their contracts protect their interests - and their bottom line! Are you a good candidate for a waste audit - and invoice monitoring?
How Invoices Help Us Hold Waste Vendors Accountable
Invoices can give us a baseline for price expectations and point to contract gaps.
Base service rates: Your invoices will show your rate for your services - but it won’t show how much those rates have increased in the past six months. To find that, we look at your contract and your invoices history. The rate specified in your contract shows what you should pay each month for your services. But what’s not in your contract actually tells us more than what is. If you don’t have language prohibiting price spikes, we know you’re almost always going to get them. If you don’t have terms capping rate increases over the term of your contract, your base rates are going to rise. We quickly remedy these gaps in coverage for our clients when they sign up for a waste audit!
Most vendors will increase rates at least once a year, which means that over the term of your contract your rates can increases more than 100%! Is your contract protecting you from these?
Billing discrepancies: We review every one of our clients waste invoices for every location in their portfolio. So if the disposal fee jumps a few hundred dollars, we’ll see it and get the necessary billing credits on your behalf. We find invoice errors occur 10% of the time - are you and your staff catching them?
When you sign up for a free medical audit, you’re putting our industry expertise to work for you. We find where you’re being overcharged, and we find the solutions that are right for you, your locations, and your industry.
Medical waste invoices can show where you’re overspending
Invoices can give us a baseline for price expectations and point to contract gaps.
Benchline red bag disposal pricing: These fees give us an idea of what you should pay each month for each of these categories. If the disposal fee jumps a few hundred dollars, you’ll know that’s abnormal - if we’re paying attention to the monthly invoices.
And if you’re familiar with your invoices, you’ll know when errors happen. (We estimate that invoice errors occur 10% of the time - and can sometimes be incredibly costly.)
Waste contract gaps: If you notice that you’re consistently getting price hikes, or that your fuel charges suspiciously increase every few months, you need to take a good look at your contract.
Another way to prevent price hikes? Make sure your contract is airtight; make sure it does not allow disposal companies to increase their hikes over a certain percentage.
This is part of the reason offer monthly invoice monitoring. Medical disposal companies are notorious for randomly jacking up their disposal fees - just like waste disposal companies!
Do these vendors charge for their services? Absolutely. They provide a vital service, and there are a lot of valid services that are legitimately billable. But that doesn’t mean you should be overcharged.
Safety and savings are not mutually exclusive when it comes to medical waste disposal.
What do your invoices show you?
Take some time to go over the last six months of your invoices and ask these questions:
Are my disposal fees steady? Or is there a rate increase?
Are there charges I can’t explain?
Do my prices reflect market costs?
Familiarizing yourself with your invoices can tremendously impact your bottom line.
Short on time? You’re probably a great candidate for a professional medical waste audit.
Our professional, exhaustive audits will find every savings opportunity available to you - and they’re guaranteed cash-flow positive!