Capture Every Allowable Non-Par Dollar with These Strategies

As insurance companies threaten to pay physicians less for services, your practice may gather that it just isn't worth participating with some payers. However, if you continue to see patients with insurance you no longer participate with, you may have to amend your collection practices to get the money you deserve.

The reason: When you are a non-participating provider with a payer, the patient directly receives the check from the insurance company. However some patients don't and then use those funds to pay the bill your practice sends. Here are some strategies to ensure you are not letting money go out of the window.

Collect before the patient steps out of your office

If you are aware that a patient has an insurance that your practice does not participate with, then you know the payer will send the check right to the patient. As such, you should collect your fee straight from the patient at the time of service.

First step: See to it that your patients know they are responsible for paying non-covered services. They should be advised that you're not participating with their insurance when they call to make the first appointment.

Outline your expectations in the financial policy you give all patients and post a sign in the waiting area stating that payments are due at the time of service. All practices should have a financial policy they give their patients on the first visit.

One more good practice is to remind patients when they make their appointments that they will owe any non-covered fees for the visit as well as the payment methods your practice gets.

Do not rule out sending the patient to collections

If you decide not to collect at the time of service, you can send the patient's delinquent account to a collection agency, to small claims court or even to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Don't be apprehensive of using a collection agency whenever a patient who owes you money refuses to pay.

Accept assignment with payers, even if you are non-par

If you are not able to implement an upfront collections process for some reason, you are not out of luck when it comes to easily collecting your services. You can still submit claims to the payer and accept assignment if the patient agreed to allow you to accept assignment, even though you don't participate with that payer.

For more strategies to ensure you are not letting money go out of the window, sign up for a medical coding guide like Supercoder.com