I just got a letter from ADS asking me to fill out a form for them to work directly with my insurer to send me my supplies.
I have questions as I have a tendency to be skeptical about these type of things. Is it good or bad for one. Anyone run into this yet/before? I have Medicare and a supplemental plan that pays copays.
" To keep your future orders moving smoothly, we need you to complete your Assignment of Benefits (AOB) form. This form allows us to work directly with your insurance company to cover your supplies. It’s a simple but necessary step to keep your supply orders on schedule."
And this is on the form
“I authorize and request that payment of authorized Medicare and/or private insurance benefits be made directly to North Coast Medical Supply, LLC dba Advanced Diabetes Supply (ADS) for any services or supplies provided to me by ADS. I understand this authorization applies to all benefits payable under Medicare, Medicaid, or my private insurance plan for services rendered by ADS. I authorize any holder of medical or other relevant information about me to release such information to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicaid, my private health insurance, or their agents as needed to process and determine benefits for services provided by ADS.”
I believe this is a standard form that releases payment directly to the provider. I am asked to sign one like it annually by my doctor as well. Standard practice unless you wish to pay the supplier and then traffic the bills to Medicare and your health insurance for repayment. I found no problem with having them do all the legwork.
I’ve always wondered about these myself. DME companies get paid by health plans if I don’t sign them so why do I have to? There’s a risk to allowing terrible companies to do things on our behalf but I haven’t found anything that has quantified that risk. Please let us know if you find a good answer.
Might be more important for companies dealing with Medicare. Seems to be a left over from when claims were done on paper and heath insurance was actual insurance. The one detailed description of AOB I found was published by one of the Medicare claims processing contractors and is written for provides. Maybe you can look at it from the provider prospective and see how it can affect a patient. https://med.noridianmedicare.com/web/jadme/claims-appeals/claim-submission/assignment-agreement
The suppliers technically are not “bypassing your doctor’s okay” because they cannot send out anything without a valid prescription (which IS your doctor’s OK). They are just trying to streamline the payment. When I used to get my supplies through one of those suppliers, I always had to sign paperwork like you question. It never affected me in any way; I got my supplies and they got paid. Just sign the thing and let them do the payment paperwork in the background.
I receive my Dexcom G7 from Aptiva, my Tandem supplies from CCS. Both require a response from my endo every 6 months. If the don’t get it they don’t ship.
