Self-Reflection Journal: New and Established Patients Assignment
AMOA 204
By: Nikolas Sullivan
Prior to this course, I was never exposed to billing and medical coding and
lacked a complete understanding of the medical billing process. Before doing our
required reading assignments, I used to think that services were billed to insurance
companies for reimbursement by simply making phone calls to a patient’s carrier and
informing them of the services rendered. In reality, I never placed much thought into the
process of medical billing and coding. I often just thought that simple phone calls were
made and all information was inputted in filing folders behind the office receptionist to
store as data. After this week’s assignments, I learned that procedure codes play a vital
role in the revenue cycle and physicians use codes to report medical, surgical, and
diagnostic services they provide. These reported codes then determine payments and
allow providers to receive the appropriate payment. It is very important for patients to let
the office administrator know if they are a new or established patient so that they will
know if they have been an established patient and if so then all that would need to be
done is to make sure their address, insurance, phone number, etc is up to date. New
patients are required to fill out forms for the medical office, get copies of insurance
cards, and drivers licenses so that they will know exactly if the patient has a copay and
how much for the office visit.
