7 How long should I Keep my Explanation of benefits? You should keep most of these vital records indefinitely. insurance companies)Section 422.504 e 4 relates to Medicare Advantage providers that offer access to Medicare insurance programs, not Medical providers. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. What is the importance of having the right films, charting, and photos? Your health insurance company sends you an Explanation of Benefits, or EOB, to let you know that it has processed a claim for payment from a health care provider. According to Rule 64B5-17.002 (2), FAC : A dentist shall maintain the written dental record for a period of at least four years from the date the patient was last examined or treated by the dentist. Having accurate data on your treatments, insurance information, and billing history is very important to ensure you are only paying for exactly the treatment you receive. Facebook Instagram Email. Now that we have them electronically though its not the official EOB as it comes out as a posting sheet, I am wondering if we are still obligated in this new EHR world to do so? Keep medical EOBs in a file for one year. CMS requires Medicare managed care program providers to retain records for 10 years. how long should a dental office keep eobs . which would you recommend and why? However, its also an integral part of running your own dental practice. Create your storage system. Starting in September 2021 through 2022, we're phasing out paper Explanation of Benefits (EOB) statements and checks. Ultimately, it depends on a variety of factors, including state regulations, your own internal policies, and patient preference. We hope weve helped take the mystery out of it. Sources: Look at all insurance payments carefully. You have to deal with the normal paperwork tasks of running a business. How do you store them? Theres much more extensive discussion and opinions on the topichere. They are not part of medical records, so that doesn't apply. Sometimes theyre emailed to us and sometimes we just get a little printout as we leave our appointment. When the insurance pays as estimated, and the correct patient portion is collected at the time of service, the patient account has a $0 balance. Find out the specific timelines from your state and follow our practical tips for retention and storage. For certain other groups, like older adults, it can be a good idea to list medical history, list of medications, and emergency contacts on the refrigerator or the back of the front door. Sometimes we get medical bills, insurance information, and records in the mail. Most legitimate vendors will not withhold your data, but they may be not-so-helpful in assisting you in relocating the data. As a billing service we typically hold on to EOB's for as long as we have a client. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. If they match, that's the amount you'll need to pay. ord=Math.random()*10000000000000000; 1 How long does a dental office need to keep EOBs? How do you describe the shape of a molecule? This can get tricky when considering state regulations and privacy laws. Fast remit documents are EOBs from our payers that are sent from our clearing house electronically for posting. Use them to make sure your EOB doesn't contain any errors. If there is no question or problem with an explanation of benefits, keep it filed for one year from the day it was issued. One question what about a practice that has recently shut down? The dental office may also need to refer to them if there are any questions about the treatment that was received. Only authorized personnel, such as your office staff, can have access to these records. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Keep paycheck stubs until the end of the year, and discard them after comparing to your W-2 and annual Social Security statements. Steve is responsible for editorial policy regarding the topics covered on HIPAA Journal. If a physician is leaving a practice and has a large practice, can the original chart be given to the patient or new MD rather than copying the chart? This is important because doctors often look at earlier reports on these forms when trying to diagnose current issues. U-M's three Dental Plans cover in-network diagnostic and preventive services, including: Oral exams twice per calendar year. document.write('