Wiki Practice w/out Receptionist

[diaznp]

Hello!

Can a practice be open without someone to collect patient charges (copays/deductibles, etc...)?

For example, a practice is open on the weekends & the providers stating to the patients to contact the office on Monday to pay their bill.

I'm really looking for documentation to either support or refute the position.

Thank you!

 

[AprilSueMadison]

A practice can be open without someone to collect copays and so on. Those SHOULD be collected at the time of service, but it isn't mandatory.

Really what you should focus on is how much the practice can lose when a patient walks out the door without paying. Once they leave, there is an increased chance you will never see that money.

 

[Leenahz]

Wow, I've never heard of that one. I don't think there's any rules or regs stating an office can't operate that way, but I totally agree with April. I think you'll end up losing revenue with no one there to verify insurance, collect copays or past due balances.

Marlena

 

[ABonnell CPC]

While not ideal, is there a schedule of patients that you could call before hand to prepay copay/deduct, or even after the fact.

 

[Denise0728]

Speaking revenue cycle - there is a lot of material and documentation on the financial aspect of having patient demographics verified front end at each visit. In addition the expense to a practice to generate a statement or fend the follow up calls for attempting to collect fees can be significant.
I could see something like this being viable for emergency care (versus sending a patient to the ER). Also as we move to value-based care more and more practices will look to address providing after hour care (evenings and weekends).
My mind also goes to patient portals. Is that something your practice uses? And I wonder if a "check-in" kiosk of sorts could be used and the patient pays their copay at the time of check in for their appointment.