Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Question: I work in a physician's office handling the collection of past due copays, deductibles, and coinsurance as well as the coding and claims. Can I send extremely delinquent accounts to the credit bureau or a collections agency even if the patient is paying a few dollars a month if the practice didn't agree to a payment plan? Answer: Yes, in most cases you can send information about delinquent accounts to collections agencies and/or credit bureaus -- even if the patient is making a token attempt to pay up. If the patient is following a repayment schedule that you haven't approved, then you have the right to insist on a quicker repayment. How it works: If a patient is paying a small amount every month that was not approved, many practices do send them to collections, and the collection agency may or may not report them to the credit bureau. You [...]