“There’s amazing support for all health care workers in our community. You go by people’s houses and see hearts and rainbows in their windows, and the businesses that are giving special privileges to health care workers. That’s really nice to see.
I have been an Accounts Receivable Clerk since 2013. My role is part of a three-person team that bills for non-residents and uninsured patients, who come to the hospital but don’t have provincial insurance or MSP.
A lot of my day is working with the out-of-country patients. Our volume is down right now due to travel restrictions with COVID, but we still have the foreign farmworkers and some of the international students. We liaison with insurance companies for these patients.
We also bill B.C. residents, who for various reasons do not have valid B.C. medical. Since COVID, I have noticed an increase in these patients. Once MSP rejects their visit, we bill the patient directly, which usually makes them call us. We are then able to direct them to the proper channels of getting their MSP sorted, or obtaining their other provincial insurance that wasn’t provided to the hospital.
A large number of the uninsured patients are homeless. If they are an inpatient, we can reach out to a social worker to follow up with the patient to see if they can assist them with obtaining B.C. medical.
The social workers have great resources to help these patients get proper ID, which is mandatory to access health insurance coverage. Without MSP, services like pharmacare and mental health are not available.
There are many sad stories, but it is very rewarding to know we are helping people in difficult situations because every person matters.”
Tracy, Accounts Receivable Clerk, part of the health care team