January 2001

Dream On

What's your dream? I'll bet every human being has one, if not many.

For me, my childhood dream was to have a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. It was realized back in 1994, when the dealership called to say my name had finally come to the top of the waiting list. A year earlier, I had successfully passed the motorcycle safety class with my father, so the proper credentials were in place.

After going through a brief orientation of the bike, I climbed aboard and fired her up—with only one heavenly request. I said a silent prayer to the man upstairs, "God, if I am to crash today, please let me be out of sight of the dealership."

Dreaming is the first step of doing. Doing takes courage and conviction. Of course, the true beauty of chasing and fulfilling dreams is that once a dream is fully realized, the next dream begins to form. While in the beginning some dreams may seem impossible, given the desire of the dreamer to fulfill them, anything is possible.

Take a man I met a few years ago, Dave Barr. Dave is a rugged, extraordinary adventurer who sold everything he owned to chase his dream of circumnavigating the world by motorcycle. Imagine crossing Siberia in the dead of winter, African deserts, circling Australia, the Andes Mountains in avalanche season—all alone. No big money sponsors or chase crews to support his four-year, 83,000 mile epic journey. Sound impossible yet? Well, consider the fact that Dave had both legs blown off by an anti-tank mine explosion in 1981.

It is not the size of one's dreams that matters, but that one dares to dream and has the courage to try and risk failure. Failure is merely a temporary stop on the way to success.

Dare to dream, have the courage to risk and the conviction to persevere. May the coming year hold the key for each of you to realize one dream, no matter the size.

Ride on . . . Dream on!

Bob Barden, Jr.
President

Billing Medicaid Patients

I recently facilitated a meeting between a hospital client and our bureau. During the meeting, one topic of discussion was whether you may bill a Medicaid recipient if coverage is not disclosed to the provider. Our client was kind enough to contact the Michigan Medicaid Office to discover the answer. The following response was provided, and I felt other clients might benefit from this important information.

Medicaid Provider Manual, Chapter 1, pages 21 to 23:

"In summary, the only time a Medicaid beneficiary can be billed for services is when the beneficiary is advised prior to services being rendered that they will be responsible for payment of services. The beneficiary must agree to this condition. Although the manual does not state it, we advise getting the agreement in writing.

"By billing the Medicaid program, the provider is stating that they are willing to accept the patient as a Medicaid patient and thus must abide by the Provider Participation Agreement guidelines. Once the provider bills the Medicaid program, any agreements are nullified. We also advise providers to treat any patient that does not show proof of medical care coverage as a private pay patient. You should then follow your established office procedures for the billing of services for any private pay patient. Also refer to billing limitation policy in Chapter 1, pages 24 to 28. The initial billing to Medicaid for rendered services must be received by Medicaid within one year from the original date of service."

Please feel free to contact us if you have further questions on this subject. If we do not know the answer, we will do everything we can to find it for you.

Tina S. Walther
Client Consultant

Collection Skills Seminars

In case you are not aware, we conduct twice-yearly collection seminars. We thought it would be fun to share with you some of the quoted comments we received from our evaluation form. The question we asked was: what might you say to someone from another office about attending this seminar?

"Go! Concise and thought provoking." - Ann Latham, Ann Arbor Reproductive Medicine

"Very useful information, it keeps getting better each time." - Teresa Hixson, Bixby Medical Center

"I would highly recommend the seminar, you will receive a wealth of information." - Julie McDonald, Delphi Automotive

"If they came you could discuss how good it was. If they didn't come, let them know they missed an excellent seminar and plan on attending the next one." - Donna Auger, Copoco Credit Union

And finally—

"Tom is a good guy and won't put you to sleep." - Frank Garcia, United Bay City Credit Union

That is just a sampling of the many evaluations we reviewed. Kudos to Tom Oldani, our General Manager, for a job well done.

The next seminars are:

Successful Collection Skills I—February 27, 2001 Successful Collection Skills II—March 16, 2001

Both are held at the Holiday Inn in Ann Arbor from 8:30am—12:30pm. The cost is $75 per person. You can register by filling in the form below and mailing or faxing it to us at 734-663-5794. Call us for more information at 800-710- 4821.

Kate Melasi
Client Sales and Service

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Ann Arbor Credit Bureau, Inc.
311 N. Main   Ann Arbor, Michigan   48104
800.710.4821     734.665.6173
info@a2cb.com