Key Takeaways
- A letter of protection, also known as a LOP, is a legally binding agreement between your doctor, attorney, and you.
- The letter ensures that you will pay your concerned doctors for any patient services rendered to you once your personal injury claim is resolved.
- They allow uninsured patients to receive necessary medical care and assistance that they otherwise would be unable to receive after a personal injury.
Mostly, an LOP is recommended when an injured victim needs diagnoses or medical treatment they cannot pay for while waiting for a settlement. This incident is usually common with personal injury victims who do not have medical health insurance or the means to finance the out-of-pocket payments of medical diagnoses and treatment. Having an attorney by your side who understands your case and interprets how to negotiate a lop may be advantageous to you in getting the medical treatment you need.
Reasons for using a Letter of Protection (LOP):
- Like many features of financial settlement negotiations, there are many pros of LOP. Every injury case is disparate, so it is crucial to talk about the facts of different injury claims with an experienced attorney who may be able to provide a better insight into whether to use a LOP during your injury claim.
- When your concerned doctors agree to negotiate one, the best thing about a lop is that you may get the diagnoses and medical treatment you need for your injuries. This may include things like MRIs, Surgery, etc.
- While your medical bills are piling up, the lop guarantees that they do not get forwarded to collections. Because some injury cases may take time to resolve, it is important to take steps to steer clear of a financial crisis.
- If you are physically injured on someone else’s property or due to someone else’s negligence and wondering how to finance your medical bills while awaiting medical compensation, speak to knowledgeable and experienced attorneys about negotiating a LOP with your healthcare providers or doctors.
LOP for a work injury
If someone gets injured at work, the person’s medical health insurance might look towards the company’s worker’s compensation medical insurance. Financial handling and liability for a slip or fall injury might be deflected to the building or property owner’s medical insurance, for instance. It is a legal document that a personal injury lawyer may use to prevent a medical provider from collecting a medical fee incurred in the past.
For instance, if you are involved in a car accident and have to see a doctor, the medical bill may not be reimbursed by your insurance provider since the injury was due to a car wreck. This can result in a pricey bill that you cannot afford to pay. In such a situation, your attorney can send an LOP to the medical provider, which will prevent them from filing the bill, thereby protecting your credit score from being hurt or the bill being sent to collections. It gives the injured party flexibility in paying for medical care received as a result of an accident. They can pay for it out of the settlement of the case. However, if the case is lost and no money is recovered, the medical provider can still pursue collection efforts from the patient.
How does a LOP work?
Mostly, medical health insurance will decline to pay for your medical assistance and care when they think the at-fault entity or a person should be paying for your healthcare expenses. However, the at-fault entity may also have a dispute that they should have to reimburse for your medical treatment. While these two medical insurance companies quarrel about these issues, you will eventually end up having to either wait for your medical care because you can’t afford the expenses or finance the medical services yourself outright. LOP allows you to primarily pause any responsibility or obligation you may have to finance the healthcare providers or a hospital. At the same time, you work through your injury or a workers’ compensation case. It takes some responsibility and pressure off while you focus on your injury case while getting the medical diagnoses or help you need.
When you should consider using a LOP in medical billing?
In a quintessential, your injury attorney will address the medical healthcare provider or doctor involved in your patient care and inform them that you do not have the finances required to cover the payment of your care. If you have suffered minor or major injuries in an incident and are having difficulty financing your health care bills, you are likely eligible for compensation. It will inform the healthcare providers that the personal injury attorney has taken the case and anticipates to regain compensation for your losses. The letter will assure the healthcare providers that they will get the full payment when the financial settlement is received.
Summary
- Hiring an attorney and getting a letter of protection will be beneficial for you, as it makes it clear that the outstanding fees and dues will be knocked off from the cost settlement and paid to the healthcare provider first before the settlement is handed over to the customer.
- LOP is essentially an agreement made between a doctor or a healthcare provider and a personal injury attorney that, at the end of the case, any payment received will be used to pay back the hospital or a doctor.