Personal Injury Liens and Medical Imaging: What to Know
Personal Injury Liens and Medical Imaging: What to Know
Personal injury claimants don’t need health insurance or upfront cash to pay for medical imaging services. They can opt to cover their coverage with a medical lien instead.
If your injury was caused by another party, and you file a claim, medical liens offer a way to defer payment for medical expenses—including X-rays, MRI scans, and other imaging procedures—until after you’ve received your settlement. However, liens also legally require you to repay the entity that paid for the treatment in the first place, whether that’s a health insurer, a workers’ compensation fund, or even the hospital itself.
Medical liens can get tricky, and you should discuss your own case with your lawyer before making any decisions. In the meantime, here are the basics of what you should know about personal injury liens and medical imaging:
- Lien-basis medical treatment will become a legal part of your case.
Medical liens are legal structures that become part of the framework of a personal injury case. That means your lawyer can handle the payment as part of the claim, saving patients time and frustration dealing with unending medical bills.
- Not all medical imaging providers accept payment on a lien basis.
Health care professionals incur some risk when they agree to treat patients with a lien. After all, that patient could lose their case or not have sufficient funds to pay their medical bills satisfactorly. Therefore, some providers refuse to accept liens in lieu of upfront payment. Precise Imaging accepts personal injury liens and workers’ compensation liens, and they work with patients and lawyers together to keep the process smooth and simple.
- The lien payment may come out of your personal injury settlement.
You won’t have to raid the checking account to pay a personal injury lien. The money comes straight out of your settlement, which should be adjusted to cover all of your medical bills, as well as other considerations, such lost wages and suffering.
- Your lawyer may be able to negotiate a lower price before settling.
Because attorneys build relationships with medical care providers and insurance companies alike, they can often negotiate a discount rate for work done on a lien basis.
While the idea of a lien might seem intimidating at first, they enable absolutely everyone to receive the care they need. Claimants who don’t have insurance or lots of savings can be devastated by the medical expenses associated with personal injury.
When doctors and lawyers work out payment on a lien basis, the party that’s responsible for the injury ends up paying the medical bills. That’s a fair and just way to resolve claims.
Medical imaging is a major step in the healing process, and it should be available to all. Thanks to personal injury liens, everyone has access to top-quality care without upfront payment. Call Precise Imaging at 800-558-2223 to learn more about friendly, effective care in personal injury cases involving a lien.