California Physician

Practice Tip: 70% of Zero-Pays Can Be Successfully Appealed

Practice Tip: 70% of Zero-Pays Can Be Successfully Appealed
[Posted 10/19/06]

For More Information

For more CMA practice tips, see the Practice Tip Index.

For more information on this and other practice management issues, see athenahealth's Practice Management Lab

"You Call That a Payment?" An article on zero-pays and what you can do about them from Physician Practice magazine.

Four percent of the average practice’s monthly billed charges are “paid” by insurers at zero dollars. These “zero-pays” are effectively the same as denials but are not recorded as such. Zero-pays typically occur because the payor claims that the service is part of a bundled or global service for which it has already paid.

Because zero-pays are typically related to payor-specific idiosyncrasies, there is little you can do to prevent them. But nearly three quarters of zero-pays can be successfully appealed.

For more practice tips, see the Practice Tip Index.

Contact: CMA's Center for Economic Services, 916/551-2061 or jthompson@cmanet.org.

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