General Category > New!
Not showing a patient credit
NuBiker:
I always phone, text or email the patient and say "hey !!! Good news, the EOB says your copay is less than we thought, so you have a refund.
When it goes the opposite, I phone, text, or email and say "hey !! bad news, the EOB says your copay is more than we thought, and I will be sending you a statement that says how much you owe."
I use the same effort whether it's a refund or a balance due.
rking12:
I would double check w/ the insurance company whether or not they correctly applied the patient's benefits. If they did not, then the money belongs to the insurance company and they can ask for it back at anytime.
dekenn:
That's why I hold onto it for a while.... occasionally, the insurance company will "re-work" the claim and find out "gosh, we forgot to apply the copay, you owe us $$$!" THEN, try to get it from the patient, after you already refunded it!!! ;)
DMK:
I'm not sure of the laws in every state, but I'm fairly certain that, in California you're supposed to return a patient's overpayment in 30 days.
I agree, that if care is done, refund right away. But if they're fairly regular we apply the overpayment towards visits until it's used. Most patients love it when I tell them "You have a credit, so I don't need any money today".
That is the one and only problem I have with the providers I see using outside billing. Some of the services are months behind. I absolutely understand that they can only be as good as the information they're given, but I hate getting past due bills, when I paid it months before but it hasn't gotten posted yet. That's what's hard when you know too much!
rdmoore2003:
if we find that refund checks are not being cashed by the patient and we attempt to contact them but cannot, what should we do? Is there an agency that we can turn over the unclaimed moneys to. for example, a few years ago, there was a website that you could go to and enter your information and it would let you know if there was money waiting on you, in my case there was, but for healthcare industry is there something or someone we should contact? any help would be appreciated?
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