Primary Care Coding Alert

Follow these steps to collect money your doctors earned. As insurance companies threaten to pay physicians less for services, your practice may decide it just isn't worth participating with some payers. But if you continue to see patients with insurance you no longer participate with, you may have to revise your collection practices to get the money you're owed. Here's why: When you are a non-participating provider with a payer, the patient directly receives the check from the insurance company. But some patients do not, then, use those funds to pay the bill your practice sends. Employ one -- or more -- of these strategies to ensure you're not letting dollars slip out the door. Collect Before the Patient Leaves Your Office If you know in advance that a patient has an insurance that your practice doesn't participate with, then you know the payer will send the check right to the patient. [...]