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Practice Management Alert

Reader Question:

Certified Letters

Published on Thu Aug 01, 2002

Question: My physician sends a certified letter to patients right before turning their account over to collections. Can we charge the patient for this? These letters cost about $4.00. New York Subscriber Answer: No. Sending a letter to patients to inform them of their account status is the practice's responsibility as well as its professional obligation. The purpose of the certified letter is to have a record that the patient was notified and to retain a copy in his or her medical record. It also proves that the patient was informed because you now have a signature on file.  
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