Charging for missed appointments

“Physicians should not submit claims to Medicare for no-show charges because Medicare “does not make any payments for missed appointment fees or charges imposed by physicians,” and such charges should not be billed to Medicare. However, according to the Medicare document, Medicare law and regulations “do not preclude the physician or supplier from charging the Medicare patient directly.”

Plese do let me snort into my breakfast. You can’t charge medicare, but you can charge the patient who will not pay it anyways. LOL LOL. CMS lives on the dark side of the moon of reality. Thanks for the helping hand and kick in the ass all at once. I’ve got a better idea. How about you let us charge medicare and you can tack the bill onto the patient’s premiums. Only then will these bills get paid. It will never happen. that would involve CMS getting it’s head out of it’s ass.

Anon 9:39

Do you expect Medicare to pay when no medical care has been provided? That is taking entitlement to the extreme and as I assume you are a fellow physician is embarrassing. Imagine the scams that mills could operate then!

I have always had a no show charge policy. I don’t make money on it, but it does work in keeping the no shows down, and in weeding out the people who occasionally don’t show and really want to get care in the practice vs those who just have no respect for me or my time. The latter don’t show, I bill them, they don’t pay, and I then discharge them from the practice. Problem solved!

Being able to do this with Medicare patient addresses a hole in what I consider an essential practice management system.

You sure better be running on time if you are going to have a “no-show” fee. Step up the volume a bit and you will be relieved when a few patients no-show. That is what the airlines count on when they overbook and they are much more sophisticated in their scheduling than physicians. Nobody is going to pay those no-show fees anyway, and surely they should remind you of the time you had to reschedule them due to an “emergency” or you saw them 30 minutes or more later than their appointment time.

A month ago my dr. cancelled my appointment. I found out when I arrived at my appointment. The girls at the front desk swore they called to tell me over an hour ago that the doctor had an emergency, but I never got the message. I had to take an afternoon off work to go – something that is a big deal where I work.

I then missed my rescheduled appointment because I had to work. My dr. charged me $100. Should I fight it? I lost more than $100 of my time taking 2 subways and missing work just to see her. She is a good doctor, so i don’t want to loose her, but I think she may be one of those who would drop me for not paying the late fee.

Let me see if I get this straight. Patients are scheduled for an appointment. They show up. They wait. And wait. And wait. Sometimes an hour or more past their scheduled appointment time. So how about we charge the doctors when they’re late? Your time is no more important than mine. As a copywriter, my time is quite valuable.

I understand that a no show is irresponsible. A patient could at least call. But the ones of you beating on your chests need to realize that I’ll bet you’ve made a patient wait past an appointment. How about you get your acts together before running off at the mouth about inconsiderate patients?