Legal Question in Health Care Law in South Carolina
Medical Collections in SC
Can you advise on collecting bad debts in a doctor's office in South Carolina. Currently, we require patients to pay bad debts before they return to the office. The debt becomes a bad debt after the patient has received monthly bills for at least 5 months. Can we deny patient service if they can't pay the bad debt?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Medical Collections in SC
You are probably not required to treat the patient with unpaid bills on credit, although chances are you have ethical duties that supercede financial compensation.
For example, you might be required to release his medical file to another provider, or provide service if the payment is offered in cash.
It defies logic, really to deny a cash paying patient service, whether or not there is past debt. You might run into problems when the past debt is caused by insurance or government benefit snafus.
That's why you really need to consult local counsel to set your policy and identify potential gotchas.
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