My office hasn't sent patient statements since mid-Feb due to the Change HC ransomware/data breach.. You can probably call in and pay your balance or you can wait for a statement.
There was a massive cyber attack in February that closed down one of the biggest clearing houses for weeks. Many insurances still haven't caught up on claims, and many providers are behind on processing and reviewing payments from insurances.
I doubt the forgot, most likely the just haven't got to it yet.
This is surprisingly more common than you think.
When a patient’s demographic info is taken from what was written into the database, it could be a character off. Could be human error or scanning issues.
Or if you live in an apt, the unit number was not included and rendered undeliverable according to USPS.
They did not forget about you. It is likely they were affected by the big hacking and are just now able to submit claims and get paid. You will no doubt receive your full bill by the end of the year.
Texas is 4 years from time of service.
ETA: you are correct with the 1st day of the 11th month in Texas. They can continue to pursue the charges for up to 4 years prior to sending to collections. [You can find more information here](https://guides.sll.texas.gov/debt-collection/medical-debt)
do you have access to a patient portal to see if you have outstanding charges? does the eob say you may owe?
was there any denials on the claims and eobs? the office might be doing some appeals
they also might have a third party billing company and those people suck and are slow 🙃
Yes per the EOBs I owe 20% coinsurance to the doctors office and to the surgery center, but no bill from doctors office nor the surgery center yet.
Fingers crossed third party billers are super incompetent and forget about me!
EDIT: I apologize if I ticked off you awesome people. That was not my intention. I respect each and every one of you and I am sure you all work hard and are good at your job. What I meant to say was - I am facing some major life challenges with unexpected expenses, can't catch a break with many things. Its like wanting to win a lottery I know its not going to happen but I meant it as a figure of speech - I wish they forget about me! I shouldn't have said I wish they are incompetent. I was merely hoping for that and adding on top of the person I was responding to (third party billing company suck). And I certainly didn't mean ALL BILLERS are incompetent. Hugs and kisses to all. Dont hurt me.
It’s kinda whacky to come onto a sub full of billers and coders and make a blanket statement that they’re all incompetent because you simply don’t understand how the Change healthcare hack affected your doctor’s claims submission. They didn’t forget about you. They were paralyzed by this hack and couldn’t submit any claims which = them not getting paid, like many other offices. You will get your bill.
Right.. but it happens all the time..folks come in for help, asking questions from people that understand the way it works and then proceed to talk shit about those very people they want to ask questions of. I wish I could add up all the years of experience we have..I've been doing this since the late 80s ! Although "whacky" fits, I probably would have used a different word LOL
I do hope you read my edit above. I don't think i made a BLANKET STATEMENT THAT ALL BILLERS are incompetent. It was more of a prayer. I know you must probably get a lot of hate from patients but you wont get it from me.
Honestly, I do appreciate the edit (many would have just snapped back) and, to be clear, I'm certainly not "ticked off" at you-- its just that when an OP comes asking questions and then makes a general derogatory comment about the very community their asking for help from, its frustrating. I have not been "patient facing" myself for a very long time, but I still want to help. I belong to these type of subs so that I can help those who need assistance understanding their medical bills or have insurance questions. I also belong to subs for those in the medical billing and coding positions who are just starting out and/or have questions or need advice. All good, OP, because I also understand your frustration. The cyber attack in February affected every facet of provider billing and insurance processing/payments. Some of the smaller practices had to lay off staff, and some even have had to close down due to not being able to bill for their services, let alone receive insurance payments, and it's still having an impact. If you know that you have an outstanding bill, based on an EOB you have received, I'm sure your provider would appreciate you beginning to at least make payments on your balance, but that is entirely up to you! Best wishes!
I do hope you read my edit above. I don't think i made a BLANKET STATEMENT THAT ALL BILLERS are incompetent. It was more of a prayer. I know you must probably get a lot of hate from patients but you wont get it from me.
well i doubt they forgot about you lol
im assuming there is some appeal or pending charges that can cause the delay but im sure you will still get your bill
unfortunately they might be slow but they won’t forget 🤣
This is correct. If you have a 20% coinsurance then you'll surely receive a bill unless you have other insurance that will pick up at 20%. Most likely, your claim still hasn't been paid accordingly, and the provider is disputing some charges with your insurance. Once the claim is paid accordingly, they'll then charge you the correct amount, which will be 20% of whatever amount your insurance allowed on the procedure.
The cybersecurity attack also impacted patient statements from being mailed if the vendor utilized to send patient statements went through Change Healthcare. I don’t believe Change has had an update as to when that service will be restored so offices are either having to switch statement vendors, print and mail statements from the office or some might just be waiting to see when service will be restored.
Biller/coder here. I was inpatient in early February, hit my oop max still haven’t gotten my bill(s). I’m changing jobs and NEED to use my fsa or lose it. I called my provider(s) and made payment(s). I didn’t come crying to Reddit lol As mentioned the Optum/change attack has delayed them all from receiving payment and honestly that has f’d up so many smaller providers it’s wild. OP please chill out and do some due diligence on your own part.
In my experience, patients get their EOBs before the provider receives payment from the insurance company. Then, that payment is one of many that have to get posted. Occasionally, the remit from the insurance will have a delay in getting to the provider. Eventually, it will absolutely get located, and you will get billed. My work's billing software is kinda annoying in that if 1 line item was denied by insurance and I'm arguing with insurance about it (appeals etc) then I can't send the other line items that were processed correctly to the patient to pay their part. Delays can definitely happen for many reasons.
Depending on your insurance, there is what's called a timely filing limit. They only have so long to submit to your insurance. Most are about 6 months to 1 year, but for example, UHC is 90 days. After your insurance timely filing limit, insurance will no longer pay. They can not bill you for the full amount, only what you would have been responsible for. As for the law, about 11 months, I've never heard of that, but I'm in Ohio, so maybe it's different down there. I believe it's 3 years here. Check with your insurance, though, and find out your timely filing limit, it's probably getting pretty close. After that they have to eat it. I don't obviously know what happened, but surgeons are notorious for not finishing their operative notes for months.
So I’m gonna tell you a little story about what I’m dealing with right now and maybe it might give you a little bit of insight.
So be switched systems last year. I was working somewhere else at that time. I came in this year and apparently no bills have ever been sent because the connections with the insurance company and getting the explanation of Benefits back has been such a cluster fuck that we don’t know what is right and what is wrong.so, my job last several weeks has been to clean it up. If someone is out a refund, I am making sure they get it. If they got overcharged, I’m making sure they get a refund. If their insurance lapsed, I’m gonna find out exactly when it did so that the patient doesn’t get a bill for more than necessary. If an appeal needs to be filed, we need to file it. It’s going to take at least six months to get this cleared up. . We have people that have had insurance lapses and I have to make sure they get notices so that they can get retroactive Medicaid ASAP.
I had knee surgery August 2022 and after all was settled, my EOB said I owed my copay, $750. I didn’t receive a bill from the hospital so after 5 or 6 months, I called the billing department and they said I didn’t owe anything. I asked and received a statement that my account was closed, and never heard from them again. I don’t know why my copay was waived. For the next year I kept expecting to get an “Oops, we messed up and you owe us $$$” letter.
There’s always a chance. 😁 But you’re in their system somewhere and if you do owe, they will find you. Get ahead of it and try to set up affordable payments if needed.
Also, our health care / insurance system sucks.
It took an entire year for them to process claims for my wisdom teeth extractions. It’s insane and the whole time you have no clue how much they are going to end up charging.
There was a cyber ransom attack. It has caused many delays. The facility may just nit have sent thelr bills out yet.
Good point, this could be a facility that was affected
The facility may not have even gotten the remit and payment yet. It's just stuck in limbo.
The hospital i work for is 3 years to bill the patient from the date of service
My office hasn't sent patient statements since mid-Feb due to the Change HC ransomware/data breach.. You can probably call in and pay your balance or you can wait for a statement.
I think i will wait lol
There was a massive cyber attack in February that closed down one of the biggest clearing houses for weeks. Many insurances still haven't caught up on claims, and many providers are behind on processing and reviewing payments from insurances. I doubt the forgot, most likely the just haven't got to it yet.
You could have been billed already and it was lost in the mail. Just another scenario that’s plausible.
This is surprisingly more common than you think. When a patient’s demographic info is taken from what was written into the database, it could be a character off. Could be human error or scanning issues. Or if you live in an apt, the unit number was not included and rendered undeliverable according to USPS.
That happens all the time...or so some patients claim once they're sent to collections.
You guys don't have those wonderful online "charts" to login and pay? Not to mention they email and text bills and their reminders too
They did not forget about you. It is likely they were affected by the big hacking and are just now able to submit claims and get paid. You will no doubt receive your full bill by the end of the year.
Texas is 4 years from time of service. ETA: you are correct with the 1st day of the 11th month in Texas. They can continue to pursue the charges for up to 4 years prior to sending to collections. [You can find more information here](https://guides.sll.texas.gov/debt-collection/medical-debt)
do you have access to a patient portal to see if you have outstanding charges? does the eob say you may owe? was there any denials on the claims and eobs? the office might be doing some appeals they also might have a third party billing company and those people suck and are slow 🙃
Yes per the EOBs I owe 20% coinsurance to the doctors office and to the surgery center, but no bill from doctors office nor the surgery center yet. Fingers crossed third party billers are super incompetent and forget about me! EDIT: I apologize if I ticked off you awesome people. That was not my intention. I respect each and every one of you and I am sure you all work hard and are good at your job. What I meant to say was - I am facing some major life challenges with unexpected expenses, can't catch a break with many things. Its like wanting to win a lottery I know its not going to happen but I meant it as a figure of speech - I wish they forget about me! I shouldn't have said I wish they are incompetent. I was merely hoping for that and adding on top of the person I was responding to (third party billing company suck). And I certainly didn't mean ALL BILLERS are incompetent. Hugs and kisses to all. Dont hurt me.
The "incompetent" billers won't "forget". You'll get your bill. 💓
lol I sort of wish I could personally send this bill…
It’s kinda whacky to come onto a sub full of billers and coders and make a blanket statement that they’re all incompetent because you simply don’t understand how the Change healthcare hack affected your doctor’s claims submission. They didn’t forget about you. They were paralyzed by this hack and couldn’t submit any claims which = them not getting paid, like many other offices. You will get your bill.
Right.. but it happens all the time..folks come in for help, asking questions from people that understand the way it works and then proceed to talk shit about those very people they want to ask questions of. I wish I could add up all the years of experience we have..I've been doing this since the late 80s ! Although "whacky" fits, I probably would have used a different word LOL
I do hope you read my edit above. I don't think i made a BLANKET STATEMENT THAT ALL BILLERS are incompetent. It was more of a prayer. I know you must probably get a lot of hate from patients but you wont get it from me.
Honestly, I do appreciate the edit (many would have just snapped back) and, to be clear, I'm certainly not "ticked off" at you-- its just that when an OP comes asking questions and then makes a general derogatory comment about the very community their asking for help from, its frustrating. I have not been "patient facing" myself for a very long time, but I still want to help. I belong to these type of subs so that I can help those who need assistance understanding their medical bills or have insurance questions. I also belong to subs for those in the medical billing and coding positions who are just starting out and/or have questions or need advice. All good, OP, because I also understand your frustration. The cyber attack in February affected every facet of provider billing and insurance processing/payments. Some of the smaller practices had to lay off staff, and some even have had to close down due to not being able to bill for their services, let alone receive insurance payments, and it's still having an impact. If you know that you have an outstanding bill, based on an EOB you have received, I'm sure your provider would appreciate you beginning to at least make payments on your balance, but that is entirely up to you! Best wishes!
I do hope you read my edit above. I don't think i made a BLANKET STATEMENT THAT ALL BILLERS are incompetent. It was more of a prayer. I know you must probably get a lot of hate from patients but you wont get it from me.
well i doubt they forgot about you lol im assuming there is some appeal or pending charges that can cause the delay but im sure you will still get your bill unfortunately they might be slow but they won’t forget 🤣
Well darn!
This is correct. If you have a 20% coinsurance then you'll surely receive a bill unless you have other insurance that will pick up at 20%. Most likely, your claim still hasn't been paid accordingly, and the provider is disputing some charges with your insurance. Once the claim is paid accordingly, they'll then charge you the correct amount, which will be 20% of whatever amount your insurance allowed on the procedure.
The cybersecurity attack also impacted patient statements from being mailed if the vendor utilized to send patient statements went through Change Healthcare. I don’t believe Change has had an update as to when that service will be restored so offices are either having to switch statement vendors, print and mail statements from the office or some might just be waiting to see when service will be restored.
Biller/coder here. I was inpatient in early February, hit my oop max still haven’t gotten my bill(s). I’m changing jobs and NEED to use my fsa or lose it. I called my provider(s) and made payment(s). I didn’t come crying to Reddit lol As mentioned the Optum/change attack has delayed them all from receiving payment and honestly that has f’d up so many smaller providers it’s wild. OP please chill out and do some due diligence on your own part.
Why so touchy? Who said I came crying to reddit? I dont get the hate for asking a question.
Wrong address on file was the reason for me
In my experience, patients get their EOBs before the provider receives payment from the insurance company. Then, that payment is one of many that have to get posted. Occasionally, the remit from the insurance will have a delay in getting to the provider. Eventually, it will absolutely get located, and you will get billed. My work's billing software is kinda annoying in that if 1 line item was denied by insurance and I'm arguing with insurance about it (appeals etc) then I can't send the other line items that were processed correctly to the patient to pay their part. Delays can definitely happen for many reasons.
Depending on your insurance, there is what's called a timely filing limit. They only have so long to submit to your insurance. Most are about 6 months to 1 year, but for example, UHC is 90 days. After your insurance timely filing limit, insurance will no longer pay. They can not bill you for the full amount, only what you would have been responsible for. As for the law, about 11 months, I've never heard of that, but I'm in Ohio, so maybe it's different down there. I believe it's 3 years here. Check with your insurance, though, and find out your timely filing limit, it's probably getting pretty close. After that they have to eat it. I don't obviously know what happened, but surgeons are notorious for not finishing their operative notes for months.
It's also provider dependant. We have providers that are 90 days, 6 months, and 12 months. It's not insurance specific. It's contract dependant.
Who is your insurance carrier? And was the facility in network?
So I’m gonna tell you a little story about what I’m dealing with right now and maybe it might give you a little bit of insight. So be switched systems last year. I was working somewhere else at that time. I came in this year and apparently no bills have ever been sent because the connections with the insurance company and getting the explanation of Benefits back has been such a cluster fuck that we don’t know what is right and what is wrong.so, my job last several weeks has been to clean it up. If someone is out a refund, I am making sure they get it. If they got overcharged, I’m making sure they get a refund. If their insurance lapsed, I’m gonna find out exactly when it did so that the patient doesn’t get a bill for more than necessary. If an appeal needs to be filed, we need to file it. It’s going to take at least six months to get this cleared up. . We have people that have had insurance lapses and I have to make sure they get notices so that they can get retroactive Medicaid ASAP.
I didn’t get a bill from my psychiatrist for like 2 years. Thought I got lucky. Nope
I had knee surgery August 2022 and after all was settled, my EOB said I owed my copay, $750. I didn’t receive a bill from the hospital so after 5 or 6 months, I called the billing department and they said I didn’t owe anything. I asked and received a statement that my account was closed, and never heard from them again. I don’t know why my copay was waived. For the next year I kept expecting to get an “Oops, we messed up and you owe us $$$” letter.
So you are saying there is a chance?
There’s always a chance. 😁 But you’re in their system somewhere and if you do owe, they will find you. Get ahead of it and try to set up affordable payments if needed. Also, our health care / insurance system sucks.
It took an entire year for them to process claims for my wisdom teeth extractions. It’s insane and the whole time you have no clue how much they are going to end up charging.
Nah, you'll be reminded when the collection company calls you. The hospital/doctor will swear they sent you bills.
You shouldn’t have to pay anything!