Patient Bankruptcy Filings

They don't happen very often but occasionally one of your billing parties will file for bankruptcy protection. Since OrthoBanc manages your accounts and debits monthly payments from potential bankruptcy filers, both your office and ours need to follow the same course of action.

What To Do. If your office receives a bankruptcy notification for an account that is being managed by OrthoBanc, your first step should be to Withdraw the account. You can do this on the OrthoBanc website. Simply search for the patient account and select Change Request from the sub menu. Click the Withdraw Account option and click Next. Select the Other option and add a comment indicating that a bankruptcy notification has been received and then click Finish. Once this is complete you should contact your legal counsel or follow your established procedures for handling an account in bankruptcy.

What OrthoBanc Will Do. Often OrthoBanc receives bankruptcy notifications related to your billing parties. When we do, we Withdraw the account and then forward the bankruptcy notification to your office with a letter of explanation.

Questions

Can we resume drafting an account once a bankruptcy has been filed? That depends upon the status of the bankruptcy and what the bankruptcy court will allow. Debtors may reaffirm a debt and pay the creditor outside of the bankruptcy petition. Only if the courts have allowed a reaffirmation may you continue having OrthoBanc debit payments on your behalf.

How can we resume drafting once a reaffirmation has been obtained by our billing party? From our website you search for the patient account and select Change Request from the sub menu. Click the Change Balance/Payment option, click Next, and choose Increase Balance. Follow the prompts to complete your request. A Change Request Form will be generated and the signature of the billing party will be required. Fax the signed document to our office.

What happens if we do not Withdraw the account upon receipt of a bankruptcy notification? Both your office and OrthoBanc may be subject to court action for ignoring the Automatic Stay protection that is extended by a bankruptcy filing. It is important that we both honor the Automatic Stay and wait until the courts have ruled.

Should you have additional questions please contact our office. If we act together in a united effort we will protect each others interests and those of our patients.