Natera prints a maximum of 3 to 6 bills per account.
For example, self-pay cases will generate up to 3, and those that have an OA100 check will generate up to 2 bills but for NCS, Regular INN, INN, and OON bills, there’s a maximum of 6 bills.
OA100 Patient’s will receive 1 letter (pre-estimate) and 2 statements. If they have a responsibility aside from what was paid by the insurance company, they will be billed as an ONN statement cycle.
Sometimes, patients may have financial difficulties, among other reasons, such as changing addresses and this may mean those patients won’t pay.
For OA100, accounts are subject to external collection processes.
For the rest of Release Types, we always want to encourage our patients to pay once the first bill has been received to take advantage of discounted prices, but if they don’t pay, Natera will eventually stop printing bills.
When patients call in asking if they have any pending payment, even though you see the account at $0.00 on the Patient Tab, you are required to check the History tab and after loading all items, please search for any WODUNN code.
It may happen that the patient paid in fact and you should be able to see the payment record and amount on the History Tab but if you don’t and more than 3 to 6 months have elapsed, is very probable you will see the WODUNN code.
For these scenarios, please inform your patient that they still owe and are responsible of paying the amount reflected on the last statement that was printed (Statement Tab in Custom Tabs).
Because we need to use Synergen only for WODUNN scenarios, you need to send an escalation to Add Balance on the account and inform your patients with the following:
“My apologies; I have updated your portal account. Please check your portal again within 72 hours for the balance to show up. Please call us back within 72 hours so we can process your payment over the phone.”
IN CASE THE BALANCE DOES NOT SHOW IN AMD AFTER THE 72 HOURS ESCALATE THROUGH YOUR CSS
Once the balance is in Synergen, ONLY if requested, you are able to use the Walkdown to negotiate the amount but if a discount was provided, please send a ZBAL request as well.
Go to Syncro CRM, Synergen Escalation-Add Balance
Add the following details:
- If an insurance agent is calling in, please enter the Reference Caller ID
- Ask patients for their e-mail address
- Add Balance (WODUNN)
- Click on send to create the ticket
If the patient asks to add their insurance information, make sure the plan is active now and was active by the time the test was taken (DOS).
Please remember it’s also important that the claim is submitted within 180 days from DOS; please check a calendar and if more than 180 days have passed, try to position the self-pay price (which should be by then, the Full Cash Price) and if necessary, apply the Walkdown options.
If the patient insists, you can attempt to send an Insurance Update but please make patients aware we cannot make guarantees that the insurance will cover due to the timeframe we manage.
If the account is still within the 180 days, after completing the Insurance Update, please send an Add Balance request as well.
Last update by: Claudia F (August 19, 2024)