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Wiki No show new patient appointment

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nics1011

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I'm curious how other offices are handing these situations....

Are physicians allowed to charge new patients, who have not yet filled out the financial policy, for a missed appointment?

Thanks in advance for your input !
 
I'm not a lawyer but if your patient hasn't yet to be informed of and agree to the missed appointment fee you cannot charge it. Verbal would also be harder to prove than in writing. You just refuse to reschedule them if they call. You can't enforce a contract that doesn't exist
 
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That's exactly what I was thinking. It was brought up that if the patient fills out all of the forms prior to the visit with the no show policy included that that would cover us, but I just wasn't so sure about that.

Thank you for your input.
 
I know of many practices that charge a "no show" fee as long as the patient is aware of the policy. However, actually collecting the money is a whole different ball game
 
I agree with previous responses. Another issue we have with new patient appointments is that, as a specialty clinic, a lot of our patients are referred by PCP, many of which schedule the appointment with us for the patient. We've had quite a few patients complain that they were not informed of the appt. Just another aspect to consider.
 
bedforak1 said:
I know of many practices that charge a "no show" fee as long as the patient is aware of the policy. However, actually collecting the money is a whole different ball game
Click to expand...

I got hit with that one recently, I put the wrong month on the calendar and the office doesn't do reminder calls. I got a letter in the mail stating the office tried to bill my credit card on file but it was declined and that if I didn't contact to pay the $150 fee in 30 days I would be let go as a patient. (which they wouldn't even negotiate a smaller fee, even though I'm a long term patient with several visits a year and always 10 min early but I digress). Although I have a signed agreement on file to pay so they can send me to collections. A new patient that would not fly.
 
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