Illegal Immigrant Medical Billing No Longer Allowed

Illegal Immigrant Medical Billing No Longer Allowed

A recent medical billing study in New York State has created some fuss regarding immigrant health care. Many people believe illegal immigrants should not be covered for health care. However, many states, New York included, cover immigrants for emergency care. Medical billing for this emergency care is another story.

Recently there was a review of medical billing claims from January, 2001-September, 2004. This review found that $14 million each year were spent on ancillary care instead of emergency care. To correct this problem, care such as physical therapy and speech therapy will no longer be eligible for medical billing reimbursement. Ancillary care is not considered emergency care.

This study came about because the United States government will pay 50% of immigrant emergency costs for New York. When they did the review they found that many of these services claimed were not emergencies and therefore not eligible for medical billing reimbursement.

Emergency care which is medically reimbursable for immigrants would be things such as chest pain or bone fractures. Unfortunately since many of New York state’s claims were not emergency related they will only receive $174 million out of the $207 million they claimed .

Immigrants do not pay into the Federal government. That is why they are not eligible for medical billing reimbursement on a non-emergency basis. It is up to your hospital to decide if care is an emergency or not.

If an immigrant is cared for at your facility it is important to produce complete and accurate documents so that you are eligible for medical reimbursements from the Federal government. Many hospitals do not take advantage of this medical billing reimbursement program. This means they could be losing out on hundreds of millions of dollars . Don’t let your hospitals medical billing department fall short.

View all Articles by: Melissa Clark, CCS-P