Electronic Billing for the Primary Care Physician

Jimmy comes in for his well-child check. He needs his kindergarten immunizations—tetanus-diptheria (DT), polio, and measles-mumps-rubella (MMR). He also needs a follow-up hemoglobin to see if the iron supplement that he is taking has resolved his anemia. The care Jimmy will get is both routine and complex, and his encounter with his caregivers starts in motion a series of events and creates a cascade of records all in the name of getting the caregivers paid for their services. The office team will do the work to get the practice paid; the provider may never see any of the billing paperwork and may have little understanding of what her office team does. Is that reasonable delegation of a clerical task, or is it a dangerous dereliction of responsibility?