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Medical assisting is a multifaceted career. As such, a per-son in that career may be required to take on many duties in the medical office that are administrative in nature. The medical office has customers who have various payment arrangements, such as third-party payers (usually insurance carriers) and payment plans, and who may also have large outstanding balances. A proper understanding and administration of billing—for both third-party payers and patients—as well as payment collection methods is therefore required. Outline
Learning OutcomesAfter completing Chapter 17, you will be able to: 17.1 Discuss the importance of accounts receivable to a medical practice. SummaryMost doctors prefer to obtain payment by cash, check, or credit card at the time medical services are provided. As a medical assistant, you may assign the fee for these ser-vices and collect payment. For various reasons, however, some patients cannot pay immediately. To accommodate these patients, the doctor may want to extend credit. If so, you may be asked to check credit references or to obtain a credit report. When patients have made credit arrangements with the doctor, you must regularly prepare invoices from information on the patient ledger cards. To simplify this task, you may use a multipurpose superbill and send out invoices in billing cycles. If patients do not pay their bills within 30 days, you may be asked to act as the doctor's collection agent. Through telephone calls and collection letters, you can try tactfully to collect payments. Federal and state laws govern collections and carry harsh penalties for infractions, so it is important to be knowledgeable of these laws and regulations. If your efforts to collect a payment are not effective, the doctor may ask you to help find an outside collection agency. A good collection agency should reflect the humanitarian standards of the medical profession. You will need to supply the agency with the pertinent account information. |