Amanda Waesch, Esq., is a healthcare Attorney at Brennan, Manna & Diamond. Her practice focuses on healthcare, employment law and healthcare litigation across the country. She advises healthcare providers including practices and hospitals on reviewing and litigating employment agreements; non-compete agreements and severance agreements. Her work has benefited physicians and administrators in drafting and reviewing employer handbooks, as well as management and training issues.
3-Part Series: Avoid Billing Pitfalls for Good Faith Estimates, Co-Pays and Professional Discounts
Collecting money from patients is essential to keeping your practice in the black—but not every billing and collection strategy is compliant. In fact, some common approaches can land your practice in serious legal trouble.
The reality? Many practices are mishandling patient collections in ways that violate federal laws. From misapplying Good Faith Estimate (GFE) requirements, to waiving the wrong copays, offering discounts to ineligible patients, or writing off balances incorrectly—these mistakes could cost you in fines, penalties, and even insurer exclusion.
So, what can you do? During this 3-Part online training series, three healthcare attorneys will walk you through how to boost your revenue and stay compliant.
You’ve earned payment for the care you’ve delivered. Let these legal experts show you how to get paid the right way—without the risk of compliance violations. Register now for this must-attend 3-part training series and claim your 15% discount today!
SAVE 15% INSTANTLY!
Order your 3-Part series in the next 5 days, and you’ll save an additional 15% off the total cost. Discount is already reflected. No code is necessary. Or, if you prefer, you can order each session individually at the regular rate. ORDER TODAY!
PART 1: Comply with Good Faith Estimate Complexities and Get Paid More
Available Immediately, Choose the On-Demand Recording to Watch at Your Convenience
Good Faith Estimates are a necessary evil to comply with the No Surprises Act, but let’s face it—they’re complicated and time-consuming. They are hard to get right, and mistakes can lead to patient complaints, lost revenue, and costly audits.
The good news? With a few simple adjustments, you can streamline your Good Faith Estimate processes, head off compliance issues, negotiate higher payer fees and maximize your reimbursements. Healthcare attorney Amanda Waesch, Esq., can help. Amanda will host a 60-minute online training to break it all down.
Get these (and many more) Good Faith Estimate questions answered by attending this 60-minute online training:
- Which patients are required to receive a Good Faith Estimate?
- What charges should you include or exclude on an estimate?
- How does a patient’s co-insurance or deductible affect your Good Faith Estimate?
- If an in-network patient chooses to self-pay, is a Good Faith Estimate still required?
- How far in advance must you supply an estimate to your patients?
- Can you compliantly provide discounts for early/lump sum payments? If yes, how?
- What if state and federal regulations differ, which do you follow?
- Can you provide hardship discounts to in-network patients? If yes, how?
- How should your payment policy change if you provide Good Faith Estimates?
- What are your responsibilities when working with co-providers?
- What disclaimers should you include on your estimate to protect your practice?
- What is the correct way to change a Good Faith Estimate and remain compliant?
- And so much more!
PART 2: Copays: What to Charge, When to Waive & How to Collect More
Available Immediately, Choose the On-Demand Recording to Watch at Your Convenience
Unfortunately, you are in a no-win situation. Failing to collect copays and deductibles can get you into just as much trouble as collecting them incorrectly.
How much should you collect? Can you discount? What about professional courtesy visits? Can copays be waived? How does balanced billing fit in? Can you offer prompt payment reductions? Does waiving copay violate the Anti-Kickback Statute? Etc.
Improperly collecting copays for both private and government payers can lead to severe violations (although for different reasons). In fact, several court cases have found healthcare practices guilty of fraud for failure to collect copays and deductibles correctly. The punishment for these violations includes civil damages and forfeiture, civil monetary penalties, imprisonment, criminal fines, and payer exclusions.
Reduce Risk When Collecting Copays
The good news is that you can reduce your risk of being penalized for incorrectly collecting copays…
This is where healthcare attorney Amanda Waesch, Esq., can help you protect your practice. Amanda is presenting a 60-minute online training that will walk you through exactly how your practice can avoid copay collection violations and still receive the payments you are due.
Copays: Avoid Violations
Here are just a few of the tactics you’ll receive during this training that will help you better protect your practice from errors when collecting copays:
- Avoid costly violations due to discount, waiver, and write-off policies
- Offer prompt-payment discounts without breaching copay rules
- Pin down when NEVER to balance bill uncollected funds
- Effectively communicate collection policy to patients to slash risk
- Master financial hardship waiver requirements to head off costly errors
- Uncover how professional discounts can violate Anti-Kickback laws
- Utilize an Advanced Beneficiary Notice (ABN) to avoid penalties
- Bulletproof your copay/deductible collections policy to reduce compliance risk
- Prevent the No Surprises Act from reducing your rightful collections
- Determine what constitutes “routine” when issuing a copay waiver
- Identify copay/deductible collection policy mistakes and correct them
- Stop fraud allegations related to write-offs and bad debt
- Tap into payer contract “lowest rate” clauses to minimize liability
- Implement collection policy training dos and don’ts to protect against fraud
- And so much more…
PART 3: Stop Violating Professional Courtesy & Patient Discount Laws
Available Immediately, Choose the On-Demand Recording to Watch at Your Convenience
Writing off patient copays and offering colleagues professional courtesy discounts can quickly make you an OIG target. The problem is that both federal and state professional courtesy and patient hardship discounting laws are complex and confusing, and there are about a million ways to violate them.
Sure, there are legitimate reasons for you to waive patient copays or write off some or all of what they owe, but this can also look like inducement, which is illegal. And although it’s common to offer professional discounts, if not implemented correctly, it can be considered an enticement for future referrals violating the Anti-Kickback statute.
Even innocent discounting mistakes can land you in hot water with the OIG, and the ensuing penalties and fines can bury even the most financially healthy practice. Fortunately, with a little help, you can avoid scrutiny when dealing with professional courtesy discounts and escape the headaches and stress that come with it.
Healthcare attorneys Ashley Watson, Esq. and Daphne Kackloudis, Esq., are here to help. During their 60-minute online training, you will learn the right and wrong ways to write off amounts due correctly and offer discounts to patients, business associates, fellow physicians, vendors, and others. Ashley and Daphne help you overcome the complexities of professional courtesy and patient hardship discounting laws and provide you with the tools you need to comply.
Here are just a few of the step-by-step strategies you’ll learn to comply with patient and professional courtesy discount rules by attending this info-packed online session:
- Identify which providers and family members never to offer discounts to
- Pin down the exact language you must include in your professional courtesy policy
- Differentiate the legal requirements of free services from discounted ones
- Secure the legal definition of “routine” waivers so you can avoid them
- Translate the False Claims Act legalese into actionable steps to avoid scrutiny
- Determine what “professional courtesy” actually entails in the OIG’s eyes
- Train staff to avoid discount compliance do’s and don’ts
- Define what the AMA means when advising physicians to “use their judgement”
- See how private payers define discounts and if their rules line up with Medicare’s
- Identify when you can write off copays vs. the entire patient bill
- And much, much more…
Past Webinar Reviews:
“The webinar was very informative and well organized.”
– Robert Williams, Compliance Officer, Richardson Medical Center
“I think Amanda is a great speaker! Love listening to her. The webinar was awesome and very informative!”
– Luz Capcha, Revenue Cycle Management Director, Nirvana Healthcare
“The presenter was very clear about the subject and very knowledgeable.”
– Cynthia Watland, CEO, Watland Billing Consultants
100% Satisfaction Guaranteed or a Full Refund.
You take no risk whatsoever. If you find this essential session doesn’t meet your expectations or you are not satisfied for any reason, simply let us know.
Meet Your Experts
Daphne Kackloudis
Esq.Partner at Brennan, Manna & Diamond
Daphne L. Kackloudis is a member of the firm, she heads BMD Columbus’ health care practice, and she chairs BMD’s Empowerment and Opportunity (DE&I) Committee. Daphne’s success –and that of her clients – is rooted in the nexus between traditional health care legal services and health care public policy. She has broad and deep experience in health care operations, service delivery, payment systems, and compliance, as well as Medicaid, public policy, and government affairs. Daphne advises health care trade associations and health care providers as outside counsel and in-house as a member of her clients’ senior leadership teams.
Ashley Watson
Esq.Assistant General Counsel
Ashley is Assistant General Counsel at a large hospital network in Columbus, Ohio. Prior to this, Ashley was a healthcare attorney in BMD’s Columbus office. She worked with nonprofit and for-profit health care providers, health care trade associations, individuals, and businesses. Ashley is experienced in healthcare public policy and regulatory compliance, legislative and government affairs, grant administration, and healthcare program operations.
