Practice Management Alert

You Be the Expert:

Billing for New Physicians

Published on Fri Nov 01, 2002

Test your knowledge. Determine how you would handle this situation before looking at the box below for the answer.

Question: We have a doctor in our medical office who doesnt have a PIN yet. Should we just file the claims without provider numbers, and maybe compensate the physician on our own terms?

Georgia Subscriber

Answer: Dont throw away the claims for physicians without payer numbers. "You have to hold them," says Catherine Brink, CMM, CPC, president of Healthcare Resource Management Inc. in Spring Lake, N.J. Once that number comes through, you should send in the claims, she says. Brink does not call this hold "backdating"; youre simply waiting for the PIN number to come through.

With careful planning, you can avoid the waiting game altogether. "As soon as you know you have a new doctor coming, you should waste no time to get him a PIN," Brink says. This advice precludes having to worry about holding claims. To make sure holding claims for waiting physicians is reimbursable, you should definitely check with your Medicare carrier before you do anything. $ $ $