Forum - Questions & Answers
Billing a patient with an HSA Account/High Deductible insurance
I have been told advised that you "can not provide free healthcare" to someone with a high deductible insurance/HSA. However, there are times when I see a patient and that really doesn't involve any medical decision making. Can we have "no charge" codes? In another situation, I may simply draw blood and that is it. Must I have an E&M code or can I use just the code for venipuncture, which for us, has $0 charge?
We do submit claims to insurers but provide preventive services, primarily, and don't depend on claim payments for income.
re: Billing a patient with an HSA Account/High Deductible insurance
I do not recommend providing free services to anyone without insuring proper due dilligence has been provided to qualify them for indigent services or and attempt is made to collect the debt I say this due to the various rules and regulations we must comply with however, there are instance many in fact in which and E/M is not warranted and should not be billed the venipuncture sounds like one for your practice. Also, When reporting an E/M service there are three key elements hx, exam, and MDM; MDM is the driver yes but not the sole component. Your documention may support the reporting of a low level E/M such as 99211 or 99212 or no E/M and just a procedure if applicable. As you likely know, code selection is based upon documentation. You want to be sure your billing is accurate and may benefit from having a coder on staff or an annual external audit review to make sure you are on track. Best wishes!