I personally view collecting on copayments as "nickel and dimeing" the provider
So you don't post, track, report and send patient statements? If so I would tend to agree with you. For those that are billing on a percentage, and tracking, reporting and sending patient statements I think it's bad advice to tell bilers not to charge for these! NOW if you have a provider who is 100% perfect on collecting copayments and coinsurance (OOP) up front..KUDOS to you and again I would agree I would cut provider a break also. Billers charging on a percentage are POSTING, TRACKING, REPORTING and sending patient statements .. bottom line if they don't bill the provider for those, they ARE losing money. PERIOD.that's a fact, not an opinion.
OK - I'm going to chime in here...I have a billing service that still charges based on a % and I DO charge my clients for the copays that are collected at the time of service. Here's the reason, in the daily batch of superbills that are sent to us they include their daily payment log so that we can make sure all copays were applied to the patient's visit. Our policy is that any money that we post to a patient's account we get paid on. So far, I've never had a client refuse to accept those terms - they understand the importance of keeping the patient's account accurate and that is part of it. To comment on the deductible side - even if the patient pays for the deductible at the time of the visit, the claim still needs to be filed and tracked with the insurance company - so we get compensated for the work tha is involved there.Just my two cents...~ Charity
I don't collect on copayments/deductibles/coinsurance at all, as I strictly do FLAT FEE billing and totally dislike that old age nonsense of % based billing.