Physicians are getting paid from secondary insurance from their medical practice

Normally, patients land at your office with a major and a minor insurance that they would like you to bill. Out of courtesy to the patient, you let the cards, enter the information and send it all off to your billing department. But, how many of these secondary insurances are actually being billed, and how many are sitting there in your accounts receivable (A/R) aging out and reaching timely filing deadlines?

There are several secondary to Medicare that have routine crossover like Blue Cross and Blue Shield, so a majority of those when billed automatically characteristically are not ones to worry about. But there are thousands of insurance plans that patients use ranging from the big names, like Medical Billing Services to smaller private insurances and employer-funded plans that the automatic crossover does not apply to. Sure, it's only $12 per claim to $25 per claim, but step back and look at how many of these you have aging out. If you have 1,000 accounts with inferior claims pending, this can add up very quickly to inflow that is yours for the taking, and hard earned at that!

Take these steps to observe and remedy this situation as soon as possible:

• Do you have direct access to your patient accounts and system reports that show balances and your aging out Accounts Receivables? This is your first step in realizing what is actually sitting out there in your 90+ days. It is critical to identify these specific accounts.

• Once identified, it's time to meet with your billing director. This is a very important next step. It will define the lines of liability by addressing the specific reasons why these accounts are being allowed to age out. If your billing manager feels that “it's not worth their time to bill out such a small amount,” it's time to find a new billing company. It is not their money, it's yours.

• Now that you have recognized and addressed these aging out accounts, you will need to follow up within 30 days. You can do this by running specific aging reports, or going into each account and checking when/if those claims were indeed sent out. Most software programs used by highly regarded billing organizations have complicated enough reports that you should be able to obtain this information quickly and easily.

Taking this step right now is very important with your 90+ accounts receivable. Many insurance companies are tapering their "timely filing deadlines" such as some Cigna plans, which are now 90 days from the date of service. You would not have any recourse on claims passing this time limit if you continue to allow those aging claims to sit.

It's always a good idea to review your Accounts Receivables on a monthly basis to insure you are being paid on claims, are being paid your tapered rate, and know why you are receiving denials. All of these areas are so easy to examine and are critical to your overall practice's health.