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Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Compliance:

Are You Considering 'Firing' A Patient? Proceed Carefully to Avoid Getting Burned

Published on Mon May 09, 2011

These tips will help you avoid legal pitfalls in discharging deadbeat beneficiaries. Delinquent patients don't have to be a permanent fixture in your practice. If you have patients who owe thousands of dollars in copayments and deductibles, you don't have to keep providing them with care in non-emergency situations when the patient does not require your medical attention and you have provided adequate notice. At issue: Some practices may feel tempted to terminate their relationships with patients who have long-overdue bills, who habitually skip appointments, or who are nasty to the office's staff members. However, some providers worry that this could lead to a dangerous set of legal nightmares, so they continue to treat the patients. In discharging deadbeat patients, one concern is that the patient might charge you with "patient abandonment." Physicians have taken an oath to protect the welfare of their patients, and practices should ensure that they [...]
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