Practice Management Alert

Spell Out Co-Pay Rules With Written Policy

If you work in a medical billing office that has not had some problems with copayment collections, consider yourself lucky. Patients that don't pay up at the proper times cause multiple headaches for a practice, which has to decide whether to pursue the patient for the money.

Good idea: Ward off potential copayment collection snags with a written co-pay policy that informs patients of your copayment policy, says Robyn Lee of Lee-Brooks Consulting in Chicago. Your office's copayment policy might include statements declaring:

- the office's intent to collect every co-pay

- that co-pays are collected  before the patient sees the physician

- the definition of co-pay waiver circumstances.

Also, patients must be reminded of copayments when they are called to confirm appointments. (For more information on productive phone calls to patients, see -Reader Question: Head Off Co-Pay Problems With Proactive Phone Work- later in this issue.)
 
Be Careful With Waivers

With co-pay waivers, practices can't set a number, such as a percentage of patients for whom they will waive copayments, says attorney Wayne Miller with the Compliance Law Group in Woodland Hills, Calif.

Instead, they should -define the circumstances and conditions- under which they-d waive copayments, Miller says.

For example, circumstances could include patients who are medically indigent and can't afford their care, even if they-re gainfully employed.

Note: Look for more information on improving your copayment collections process in the December issue of Medical Office Billing & Collections Alert.