Effective July 1 2021, the Idaho Patient Act (IDPAct) changes how and when your practice can take collection action on past due accounts and may impact your billing process. The ISDA is continuing to advocate for exceptions for dental practices and we need your insight to be successful in that effort. The questions in this survey will help us provide critical feedback on implementation challenges that will need to be addressed.

In addition to the questions on IDPAct, there are questions regarding the practice by third party payers of recouping payments made in error from subsequent claims payments due you on unrelated patients – a key piece of our advocacy effort on third party payer issues. These issues are tied together as IDPAct may influence your ability / process to recoup payment from the patient.

Please work with your office manager / billing manager to complete this survey! Your input is critical to the success of our advocacy efforts and we appreciate your support.

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* 1. Are you aware of the Idaho Patient Act (IDPACT) and its impact on your ability to take a past due account to collection?

If you answered yes on Q1, please answer all remaining questions. If you answered no, please skip down to Q11.

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* 2. What adjustments have you made to your billing process to meet compliance requirements?

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* 3. As a result of the Idaho Patient Act, is your practice changing patients’ “upfront” payment expectations for their estimated out-of-pocket costs?

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* 4. Has your practice had to hire additional staff to comply with the Idaho Patient Act?

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* 5. Has your practice incurred costs for technology upgrades to comply with the Idaho Patient Act?

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* 6. Does your practice have ongoing costs as a result of the Idaho Patient Act? (i.e. a per statement increased fee)?

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* 7. Have you had to switch vendors to comply with the requirements of the Idaho Patient Act?

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* 8. What has been the largest barrier to compliance with the Idaho Patient Act?

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* 9. Do your doctors work in settings outside of the clinic? (Check all that apply)

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* 10. For services such as anesthesia, does your clinic bring other providers into your clinic to perform services on your patients?

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* 11. Do you work with a collection agency?

The next questions are regarding your current collection process.

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* 12. When is the first complete bill sent to the patient?

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* 13. How often do you send statements to your patients?

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* 14. How many statements do you send prior to issuing a pre-collection notice?

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* 15. At what time frame do you send past due accounts to a collection service?

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* 16. What issues have you encountered while trying to comply with the Idaho Patient Act that you would like ISDA to be aware of?

The remaining questions relate to the practice of third party payers denying a benefit after already paying on the claim and then subsequently deducting that “overpayment” from other claims payments due to you. We refer to this as “claw back” payments.

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* 17. How often does a health insurance company claw back payments from your practice that they have already approved and paid?

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* 18. Over the past three years, roughly what % of the payments that were taken back, had a prior authorization?

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* 19. With respect to these claw back payments, are they taken back (please check all that apply):

With respect to the claw back payments:

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* 20. Over the past three years what is the average amount each year that is clawed back?

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* 21. What is your annual patient base?

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* 22. How many doctors are in your practice?

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