Certified Revenue Cycle Representative (CRCR) Practice Exam

Which option is NOT a potential cause of credit balances?

1. Duplicate payments

2. Primary and secondary payers both paying as primary

3. Inaccurate upfront collections based on incorrect liability estimates

4. A patient's choice to build up a credit against future bills

The correct answer is: A patient's choice to build up a credit against future bills

The option referring to a patient's choice to build up a credit against future bills does not represent a traditional cause of credit balances in billing practices. Credit balances are generally associated with errors or issues in the payment processes, such as processing mistakes or incorrect estimates of patient responsibility. In contrast, the other options all involve situations where overpayments might occur due to confusion in payment responsibility or mistakes in payment processing. Duplicate payments indicate that a provider received more than the owed amount due to billing errors. When both primary and secondary payers mistakenly pay as if they are the primary payer, this results in excess funds being applied as well. Similarly, if upfront collections are inaccurate due to incorrect estimates of a patient’s liability, this can lead to overpayments and hence, credit balances. Therefore, the focus on a voluntary decision by the patient to build a credit for future bills is distinct from these typical causes of credit balances.