The Biggest Problem Physicians have with the Patient Billing Process

 

1. If you involve insurance at all, it becomes a mess. If you leave them out, then everything is simple, but most people can’t afford you. For a massage therapist, chiropractor, or even some doctors, who don’t take insurance, things are pretty simple: your bill is due at the time service is provided. Please bring cash, a checkbook or credit card with you. Very simple.
2. If you involve insurance, you don’t know how much money you will get, when. You can’t bill the patient at the time service is provided, because you might get some money from insurance, and over-billing is illegal. So, you send a request for payment to the insurance company, and see what happens. The insurance company then decides if the patient was authorized to receive the treatment, and then usually pays part of the amount of money that you asked for. Of course, it take an unknown amount of time to receive that money. After you find out what part of the fee the insurance company is willing to pay, then you either have to take a loss on the rest of it, or try to get the patient to pay.
3. So you send a bill to the patient after insurance pays some part of the fee. Weeks have gone by since you say the patient. The patient receives the bill, and throws it on their stack of “mail that I need to deal with” and they tell themselves that they will get around to it next well. This bill is in the same stack with their water bill, their phone bill, and their voter registration. Some people are really on top of things. Other people aren’t. More weeks go by before the patient sends you the money which you earned.
4. Or maybe too many weeks go by, and you decide that they are not going to pay. You refer the bill to collections. Collection agencies are permitted by law to buy debt at 1/4 of its face value. This means that you get 1/4 of the outstanding balance, and the collection agency gets the right to try to get the full value out of the patient. It is now someone else’s problem. Billing Collection agencies have a whole list of tactics and methods that they use to get the money which they have purchased a right to. You also attach a non-payment report against the patient’s credit report, which lowers their score, sometimes by a lot.

About Apex MedPro

We efficiently and smoothly manage your billing needs, providing one-window solution for increasing reimbursements and improving profitability. Our staff has experience in maximizing revenue collection and improving cash flow. We provide cost-effective and efficient customized Specialty Medical Billing Programs for all practice sizes. For more information on how Apex MedPro can improve your cash flow, contact us today.