• Revenue Cycle Management
  • COVID-19
  • Reimbursement
  • Diabetes Awareness Month
  • Risk Management
  • Patient Retention
  • Staffing
  • Medical Economics® 100th Anniversary
  • Coding and documentation
  • Business of Endocrinology
  • Telehealth
  • Physicians Financial News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Cardiovascular Clinical Consult
  • Locum Tenens, brought to you by LocumLife®
  • Weight Management
  • Business of Women's Health
  • Practice Efficiency
  • Finance and Wealth
  • EHRs
  • Remote Patient Monitoring
  • Sponsored Webinars
  • Medical Technology
  • Billing and collections
  • Acute Pain Management
  • Exclusive Content
  • Value-based Care
  • Business of Pediatrics
  • Concierge Medicine 2.0 by Castle Connolly Private Health Partners
  • Practice Growth
  • Concierge Medicine
  • Business of Cardiology
  • Implementing the Topcon Ocular Telehealth Platform
  • Malpractice
  • Influenza
  • Sexual Health
  • Chronic Conditions
  • Technology
  • Legal and Policy
  • Money
  • Opinion
  • Vaccines
  • Practice Management
  • Patient Relations
  • Careers

How your payment policy could foster a lawsuit

Article

Q. My colleague and I have separate practices, but we share staff and expenses in the same office suite. Recently, a patient with no insurance called for an appointment with me. I overheard our scheduler tell her she'd have to bring payment for an old debt to my colleague before I could see her. I was horrified and talked to the scheduler, who told me that my colleague had given her these instructions. Isn't this policy unethical?and potentially dangerous? What if a patient I've seen in the emergency room fails to return to me for follow-up because she owes my colleague money? Shouldn't we avoid asking patients for each other's old debts until the patient checks out after a visit?

Q. My colleague and I have separate practices, but we share staff and expenses in the same office suite. Recently, a patient with no insurance called for an appointment with me. I overheard our scheduler tell her she'd have to bring payment for an old debt to my colleague before I could see her. I was horrified and talked to the scheduler, who told me that my colleague had given her these instructions.

Isn't this policy unethical—and potentially dangerous? What if a patient I've seen in the emergency room fails to return to me for follow-up because she owes my colleague money? Shouldn't we avoid asking patients for each other's old debts until the patient checks out after a visit?

A. You're right to be concerned. Once a doctor- patient relationship is established, either in the ER or in the office, refusing to see a patient could constitute abandonment. You cannot abandon a patient without giving adequate notice and continuing to treat ongoing conditions until the patient has found another physician. Imagine how a jury might react once they learned that an injured patient didn't receive needed care because she owed your colleague a few dollars.

Review your agreement with your colleague. Why should a debt to one doctor affect the practice of another? Even if you share expenses, you have an independent duty to your own patients. If your colleague wants to strong-arm patients, tell him to hire a collection agency and to butt out of your practice. Don't let his desire to recoup old debts compromise your patient care.

Another concern: If patients have the perception that your practice is a partnership, your colleague's collection policies could cause bad will or litigation against you. Make sure that you have separate letterheads and that the receptionist lets patients know that you have separate practices.

Related Videos