# Practice is Closing. Can they still collect the AR?



## nurse2010 (Oct 10, 2009)

Hi,

When a practice location closed and no longer see patients. Can they still collect their unpaid claims/AR *prior *to date of services they closed the practice? Ofcourse they would need their old tax ID number from the previous practice to bill and check on the status of the claims.

What are your thoughts on this?

Thank you and have a great weekend everyone!


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## RNCPC0709 (Oct 10, 2009)

*My Aunt, the practice manager, says you can....*

Per my Aunt who is a practice manager, this is not a problem...she does it all the time.  Services were rendered prior to practice closing and therefore can be billed/collected on.


Hope this helps!


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## ppamela2 (Oct 10, 2009)

*Collecting A/R*

Of course!  The debt is owed for legitimate work.  My advice, having had to do the same thing when my father died and his practice closed, is to work aggressively on the patient due balances as soon as possible.  They are even harder to collect once the practice is no longer active.


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## jdrueppel (Oct 10, 2009)

Absolutely the provider(s) can collect for services rendered!  Make sure you have insurance follow up and collection guidelines, priorities and goals in place so that your people can have clear objectives and be efficient and successful.

Julie, CPC


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## mmorningstarcpc (Oct 10, 2009)

I agree with the other responders.  However, if the practice was purchased by another practice, it may have been sold with the new owners assuming responsibility for the A/R.  If this is the case, the new owners probably negotiated a purchase price while considering they would be collecting outstanding A/R. I have seen providers retire due to medical reasons or such, closing their practice quickly, and getting a price from the new owner covering A/R.  This gave the seller more money at one time, while the new owner would collect the outstanding A/R.  It allowed the provider to bascially walk away and not worried about the A/R still due.


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## nurse2010 (Oct 10, 2009)

It's good to know I have the same knowledge about this issue as you all do.

Thank you so much for all the replies.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.


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