With January comes lots of denials for Coordination of Benefits (COB), but you can get ahead of it if you take action now.

As soon as something comes back denied for COB, take immediate action. Too often you can see patients multiple times before it is resolved, and then it becomes a tremendous delay in payment.

Here are the best practices we use in our office:

1. We call the patient and walk them through the process. Keeping in mind that most people have never heard the term “coordination of benefits,” we explain that the insurance company needs additional information from them to be able to process the claim.
2. We keep detailed notes in the patient account so that when they come in for their next appointment they can take care of it from the waiting room.
3. We change it to patient responsibility if 7-10 days go by and we haven’t received a response from the patient or payment from the insurance company. We send a statement and include a note to call us back after they have talked with their insurance company.

How do you handle COB denials in your office? Let me know: emily@altuspediatricbilling.com