Billing

General Billing Procedures

Bills are mailed directly to the patient at the address on record or to the guarantor of the account (if the patient is a minor or has insurance coverage through another person). This person is designated at registration.

What Is on Your Bill

Your bill represents the charges for services you received during your hospital stay. The daily rate includes bed occupancy, meals and nursing care. You will also see charges for laboratory tests; diagnostic imaging (x-ray); medications; use of the operating room; and any other tests, procedures or supplies your doctors have ordered. Professional fees for your physicians’ services, with some exceptions, are billed separately.

Information Printed on Your Bill

Your bill contains the name and phone number of your patient account representative and what to do if you suspect an error. Our weekday office hours are 8 AM to 5 PM. Your bill will show the total charges and will indicate the insurance information we have on file.

Doctors' Bills

Your hospital bill will include the charges for physicians who work for the hospital and provide services to you while you are in the emergency room, admitted as an inpatient or receive an outpatient procedure. Patients should expect to receive separate bills from any private doctors who participated in their care, such as the surgeon, as well as from the radiology group, if diagnostic imaging was performed, and the pathology group, if specimen(s) were sent for pathological examination. If you should have questions about any of these bills, please contact the doctor or group directly that is noted on the bill.

Summary and Itemized Statements

If you receive a summary billing and would like an itemized statement of your charges, you may request one.

Insurance Information

We depend on our patients to provide accurate billing and insurance information at the time of admission. This is essential to ensure effective and timely claim filing on your behalf. You are welcome to contact our Billing Office at any time to update your information in our system.

Estimating Payments

Our Healthcare Finance Coordinator can help you estimate your potential financial responsibility (after insurance) for hospital services. We may request a down payment of this estimated amount.

Insurance Coverage

The hospital participates with Medicare, Medicaid, Champus/Tricare, and workers' compensation. We accept Employee Group Health and private insurance coverage if we receive complete billing information. For inpatient; surgical; and selected outpatient therapies, procedures and testing, we will verify that the insurance is in effect at the time of service. The insurance subscriber is responsible for complying with their insurance company’s requirements. Those requirements may include obtaining referrals, pre-certification, second opinions, and/or ensuring that the hospital belongs to their particular network of managed care providers.

Clark Fork Valley Hospital will file your insurance claims and will also file any secondary insurance that you report to us. If your insurance company has not paid on a timely basis, we will send you a letter requesting your help resolving whatever problems have led to the delay in payment. You are responsible for seeing that your insurance company pays us correctly and on a timely basis.

Final Payment

Once your insurance company has paid, we will send you a statement requesting payment of the remaining balance. A discount is available for promptly settling your account (see "Prompt Pay Discounts" below). If you cannot make the payment in full within 30 days, please call us to explore other options for payment arrangements.

If You Are Without Insurance Coverage

We offer special discounts to the uninsured for prepayment or prompt payment of their bills (see "Prompt Pay Discounts" below). In the case of financial hardship, our Finance Specialists will assist in exploring all possible resources for medical assistance within the community, including Medicaid and other public programs as well as the hospital's financial assistance.

Clark Fork Valley Hospital will accept monthly payments after all other alternative methods of payments have been exhausted. Monthly payments are set according to the current approved payment schedule, and personal financial information may be required to set appropriate payment arrangements.

Making Sense of Medical Bills

Understanding your hospital bill; medical charges; and insurance benefits, charges, requirements, deductibles, and co-payments can be confusing. Please do not hesitate to ask if you have questions.

Prompt Pay Discounts

• Insured Prompt Pay Discount. The hospital offers a 25 percent prepayment discount for payment of the estimated patient portion of the bill at the time of service. Note: Co-pays for Family Medicine Network (FMN) and Emergency Room visits are expected to be paid at the time of service and are not subject to discount. The hospital will honor a prompt pay discount of 10 percent for payment in full of any self-pay balance within 30 days of billing of the patient portion.
• Uninsured Prompt Pay Discount. The hospital will honor a discount of 30 percent for payment in advance of the estimated charges for hospital and FMN services for which the patient has no insurance benefits. The hospital will honor a discount of 20 percent for payment within 30 days of billing for hospital and FMN services for which the patient has no insurance benefits.
• Convenient Patient Financing. Need a way to pay your out-of-pocket medical costs? We understand. The ClearBalance® program is a revolving credit account available to make payments over an extended period of time* for your medical expenses at Clark Fork Valley Hospital.

• Call to speak with a CFVH Financial Specialist for more information: (406) 826-4962

  *A minimum monthly payment will be due each month. However, you may pay the balance in full at any time. Revolving credit accounts are offered by Pathward™ N.A., Member FDIC. ClearBalance is a registered service mark of CSI Financial Services, LLC, which provides certain account servicing functions for the bank.

Billing FAQs