by Anonymous
Is it proper to say that we billed a specific insurance company even if it were denied or is it more appropriate to say that we sent a request for a claim?
If the patient tells us that he has just received the EOB stating that the insurance has paid in full yet he received an invoice, and the payment doesn’t reflect in our system yet – Is it right to file for the secondary or is it proper to inform the patient to disregard the invoice? How long does it take to post the payment from the insurance after we have received the payment?
Answer;
I think its proper to say you submitted a claim to the insurance company – even if it was denied.
As far as the patient receiving an invoice – I assume you meant he received a bill from your billing system showing the claim had been submitted – or maybe an EOB from the his insurance. I think I would tell the patient to disregard any invoices until the claim (primary) can be corrected and resubmitted.
I don’t submit secondaries until the primary pays as they sometimes require proof of primary payment.
As far as how long it takes to post the payment after receiving from the insurance company that really depends on who does the billing. As a billing company we strive to post within a few days of receiving the remittance advice or EOB so the patients records are up to date and we can send a statement, file secondaries, etc.
Posting is really just entering the payment, write-off, and copay info into the practice management (or medical billing) software. As you probably know this can be a very tedious process.
If its done in house (by an employee of the provider) it can vary depending on how busy the office is. I’ve seen some insurance payments that never get posted. As you can imagine that creates a real mess of inaccurate and out of date account records.
Hope this answers your billing question(s). If not feel free to post a comment to this page.
Thanks,
Gina