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Committee forwards fees policy and sliding-fee program to board after clarifications
Summary
The finance committee forwarded an updated Fees and Charges policy (including an attached variance list) and the Sliding Fee Discount Program policy to the board for approval; the committee discussed the DOT physical fee anomaly and recommended adding targeted discounts for large self-pay balances.
At the March 17 meeting, the Dahl Memorial Clinic Finance Committee voted to forward two billing-related policies to the clinic board for approval: the establishment of fees-and-charges policy (to be included on the consent agenda) and the sliding fee discount program policy.
During review of the fees-and-charges policy, Director Wahl explained an anomalously high DOT physical fee resulted from an RVU-based formula and a Medicare-data anomaly. Wahl said the fee was only posted and not actually charged to any patients, and the committee discussed attachments and a variance list (which includes sports physicals and DOT physicals) that can be adjusted by the board. "No one got charged that amount, certainly," Wahl said, and the committee resolved to include the policy on the consent agenda with attachments provided as follow-up.
On the sliding fee discount program, Wahl proposed adding targeted incentives to improve collections and patient access, for example offering a 10% discount for self-pay balances over a threshold (Wahl used $500 as an example) if paid promptly. Committee members raised concerns about effects on insured patients' deductibles; Wahl suggested limiting discounts to uninsured or self-pay patients. The committee passed the recommendation to forward the sliding-fee policy to the board with no objections.
Next steps: Wahl will circulate the variance attachment and any follow-up documents; both policies will appear on the board agenda for approval.
