A Midwifes Dilemma

Often, when accepting a new client into care many Midwives are faced with the dilemma of should I spend my valuable time on the phone verifying benefits or simply put it off and do it later.  This approach of “doing it later” can often be a costly choice. Just because an insurance plan looks familiar to one that paid well before doesn’t mean that coverage is the same for all plans.  Now, more than ever plans are changing and so too are the benefits.

It is very important that before your cleint enters care you know exactly what their policy will and will not cover and if an authorization needs to be obtained. There are some insurance companies that simply will not back date an authorization and you don’t want to lose any payments for services you’ve provided. Medicaid HMO’s are a good example of this and often will bounce members in and out of straight Medicaid. Therefore, it is always best to check before every visit for your Medicaid clients.

If you are finding it hard to find the time to sit on the phone with insurance  companies or simply “loathe” that side of the business then you may want to consider an experinced Billing service to handle those calls for you. Either way finding out ahead of time what the insurance policy covers is definitely a good decision.