# Medicaid no show



## TYSON1234 (Mar 27, 2012)

Just a general question, does anybody know if you can bill Michigan Medicaid patient's for no show appointments? I went to a seminar and they said we couldn't bill them for their records but I can't remember if they said anything about no shows. 

Thanks again


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## coding4fun (Mar 27, 2012)

*Medicaid NO shows*

I am sure about other states, but state of VA you cannot bill mcaid for a missed/no show appts.  Typically what we would do with our "frequent flyers" for no shows would be to post our policy that if 3 consistent no show appointment, the physician has the right to dismiss you as a patient.  This was enough to get a phone call from all of our patients.  Good luck!


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## TYSON1234 (Mar 28, 2012)

Thank you, when they come in for their appointment, we have them sign and date our no show policy. Our policy states if you have 2 no shows, no further appts. will be made and you will be discharged from the practice. Also, we fax a letter to their pcp stating that the patient has been discharged from our office.


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## jenndeshon (Mar 28, 2012)

*No show fees a no-no in KY*

We have had tons of problems with Medicaid patients being no shows for both consultations and surgeries so we have asked these specific questions of our Medicaid carriers. In KY, you cannot bill no show fees to Medicaid recipients. We also cannot request surgery deposits or medical record fees. In our system, we have an internal posting code that indicates a person has been a no show for an appointment and automatically adds our charge for this. We, of course, make this a $0 amount for Medicaid patients but we are human and do occasionally forget to remove it (we usually correct that at a later date when it happens). In one case, a Medicaid recipient received a bill with this charge on it before we could fix it and turned it over to her caseworker who then reported it to the state. A state representative made a trip to our office specifically to reiterate to us that we cannot charge Medicaid recipients for no shows. Our policy is similar to the previous post: 3 no shows and patient will have to go elsewhere. Also,when a Medicaid patient schedules for a surgery, we tell them they must confirm the appointment with an actual person in our office 24 hours before the surgery or it will be cancelled. We still get our fair share of no shows on consultations but this has really helped on our surgeries.

Hope this helps!
Jennifer, CPC


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## TYSON1234 (Apr 4, 2012)

Thank you for the suggestions.


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## coachlang3 (Apr 4, 2012)

North Carolina doesn't allow a No Show fee either.

Unfortunately we don't have a policy regarding the number of no shows a pt can have before being bounced from the practice.  I've seen 5+ no shows (for OV and procedures) and the patient is still an "active" patient.


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