Before the days of managed care, insurance plans were “indemnity coverage” that reimbursed patients for their out-of-pocket costs. Physicians billed the patients and got paid when the patients felt like making payment, usually only after the insurance company had reimbursed them. Often, the insurance money went elsewhere in the patient’s budget and the physician waited for payment. The not-so-good old days! With the advent of managed care contracting where physicians were paid directly by the insurance company, patient balance collections mostly disappeared. Today the pendulum is swinging back in the opposite direction, requiring practices to once again face the necessity to collect significant balances from patients.
