Forum - Questions & Answers
bill balance
I found a 2007 claim with no insurance payment posted. I corrected it, by posting the insurance payment. The patient was also responsible for a coinsurance amount. Can the patient be billed now.
You can bill the patient
if you never want to see them again. I would drop them a note that an error was made and you are forgiving the balance. That way you may actually gain business with new referrals to the doctor office that is not all about money.
Billing patient for 2007 service
I totally agree: from a public relations stand point, it's bad. The patient will think the office is totally inept (we all know exactly how this happens, and how frequently, but we don't want the patient to know. If outsiders knew how many steps it took to process a claim and be paid, they'd be amazed a the complexity.)
I'd write it off.
Now, if you find there are a 100 of these, you might want a different approach. Especially if they were all caused by a single reason. Then, I might send a letter that said "We had a glitch when we moved from one software program to another (or whatever) and we apologize for submitting the bill so late." If the balances are big, I'd offer a payment plan.