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Practice Management Alert

Guest Column:

Multiple Coverages: A Look at Primary and Secondary Payers

Published on Sun Aug 19, 2012

Written by Steven M. Verno, CMBS, CMSCS, CEMCS, CPM-MCS Editor's Note: This guest column is a follow-up to the two-part piece on primary and secondary payers. You can read "Overcome Primary vs. Secondary Payer Woes with Answers to Your FAQs" parts 1 and 2 in Medical Office Billing & Collections Alert, Volume 12, Number 5 and Volume 12, Number 7. Health care is not as simple as it used to be. Today, some patients have health care benefits through multiple insurance plans. I'm one of them. I have Medicare as my primary coverage and Tricare for Life as my secondary coverage. I make sure that every doctor that treats me is contracted or participating with each of my plans. If they don't, I look to find another doctor that does. What can become complicated is when the doctor is not contracted or participating with either insurance company. Things go ballistic [...]
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