Take a look at this ophthalmology coding scenario:
There are some patients who regularly miss appointments or show up late. We would like to focus on the importance of keeping appointments without alienating the patients. As such, can you bill for no-show visits and/or charge a fee for being late?
Well, whether you can bill for no-show visits or charge a late fee will depend on your payer contracts and the laws in your state. Some contracts bar no-show charges or fees not related to patient services. Take a look at your contract and state laws and if both allow such charges, go ahead and bill the patient for this difficulty.
There are many practices that charge a fee for missed appointments; however there are other choices to consider. Take a look at these suggestions from other practices: if you charge for missed appointments or a certain number of late arrivals, post that information so that patients know about the policy. Cover notices on the registration form, in the registration area and in the waiting room. Some practice writes off the first occurrence and take it as part of patient education.
You should have a financial policy that mentions the fee in writing. You should also have the patient sign a copy of the policy, which he keeps, in addition to one you will keep. This way, he can't claim he was never told or didn't see the notification.
You should tell late arrivals that your staff will fit them in as best you can; however that patients who are on time for appointments will get preference. Give the patient the choice of rescheduling later.
If the patient happens to miss an appointment, you need to send a follow-up letter. Set guidelines for the practice and send a stronger letter every time until you reach the predetermined point of dismissing the patient (normally three missed or late arrival appointments).
Remember: You should be sure to note the missed or late arrival appointment in the patient chart especially when the patient is coming in for diagnostic tests like visual fields or optical coherence tomography (OCT). This may be helpful in safeguarding the practice from abandoned patient lawsuits. Going through how your practice handles this issue is a good opportunity to assess scheduling and other issues from an internal perspective. If you are in a larger multispecialty clinic or in an area where traffic and parking are a recurring problem, realize that these issues might be impacting your patient's ability to be on time. What's more, take a look at how you schedule sick visits; many will be ‘no shows' of you book them a day or two ahead because the patient encourage your physicians to be on time. Some patients think that if the doctor is getting late, it will not matter or will not be noticed if they are late for the scheduled time.
There are some patients who regularly miss appointments or show up late. We would like to focus on the importance of keeping appointments without alienating the patients. As such, can you bill for no-show visits and/or charge a fee for being late?
Well, whether you can bill for no-show visits or charge a late fee will depend on your payer contracts and the laws in your state. Some contracts bar no-show charges or fees not related to patient services. Take a look at your contract and state laws and if both allow such charges, go ahead and bill the patient for this difficulty.
There are many practices that charge a fee for missed appointments; however there are other choices to consider. Take a look at these suggestions from other practices: if you charge for missed appointments or a certain number of late arrivals, post that information so that patients know about the policy. Cover notices on the registration form, in the registration area and in the waiting room. Some practice writes off the first occurrence and take it as part of patient education.
You should have a financial policy that mentions the fee in writing. You should also have the patient sign a copy of the policy, which he keeps, in addition to one you will keep. This way, he can't claim he was never told or didn't see the notification.
You should tell late arrivals that your staff will fit them in as best you can; however that patients who are on time for appointments will get preference. Give the patient the choice of rescheduling later.
If the patient happens to miss an appointment, you need to send a follow-up letter. Set guidelines for the practice and send a stronger letter every time until you reach the predetermined point of dismissing the patient (normally three missed or late arrival appointments).
Remember: You should be sure to note the missed or late arrival appointment in the patient chart especially when the patient is coming in for diagnostic tests like visual fields or optical coherence tomography (OCT). This may be helpful in safeguarding the practice from abandoned patient lawsuits. Going through how your practice handles this issue is a good opportunity to assess scheduling and other issues from an internal perspective. If you are in a larger multispecialty clinic or in an area where traffic and parking are a recurring problem, realize that these issues might be impacting your patient's ability to be on time. What's more, take a look at how you schedule sick visits; many will be ‘no shows' of you book them a day or two ahead because the patient encourage your physicians to be on time. Some patients think that if the doctor is getting late, it will not matter or will not be noticed if they are late for the scheduled time.
