Steve Joyner, PA-C Physician Assistant, Owner Greenville Health Care Center, Greenville, NC

What are your 3rd party payer issues?

North Carolina’s practice environment allowed third party reimbursement for PAs when care was billed through physicians. The ongoing problem was “slow-pay “ from third party payors. Another unanticipated problem was with the designation as an urgent care facility because The Medicaid program (Carolina Access) would pay only family/internal medicine practices. Initially, the Medicare carrier refused to pay because “there was no physician onsite.” Within a few years, the Federal Medicare laws changed assigning PAs provider numbers and allowing for services when a physician is not onsite.