How do I handle write offs when the patient has primary and secondary insurances!
Question:
How do I handle write offs when the patient has primary and secondary insurances?
I work for a dental office. I have a patient who has two dental insurances. We are in network with the primary and secondary. The patient came in and the visit was $150. The patient's primary insurance paid $115 with a $35 write off. I want to make sure I am doing this the correct way. When this is the case, we do not bill the secondary due to the write off from being in network with the primary insurance, correct? We still write off that primary insurance portion even though there is a secondary insurance, don't we? So I would not bill the secondary at all? Thanks for any help!
Answers:
Unless otherwise stated in your provider contract, you are allowed to bill the secondary for any money you did not collect from the primary.
What I usually do is take the primary write-off and bill the secondary insurance for the full fee less the primary payment. If you use an adjustment (depending on your software) to post the primary write-off, it shouldn't show on the claim form.
Here's something to be careful of, however: some insurance plans will take the same write-off as the primary! They stipulate in their contract that you can't charge them more (as secondary) than you charge the primary - even though you have NO contract with the secondary.
It gets plenty complicated. Email me if you need more help. This is kinda my area.