Gallagher Bassett is having a rough — and embarrassing — week. After bouncing a check for Foster Farms, the third-party claims administrator (TPA) bounced another, bigger check, this time for insurer Zurich North America.

California workers’ comp providers are unjustly deprived of due reimbursement in many ways, usually erroneous (or knowingly false) bill denial reasons. But for a second time, Gallagher Bassett has pioneered a new low in throwing doctors’ accounts receivable out of whack.

Gallagher Bassett’s Rubber Check Problem

Gallagher Bassett stopped payment for a check issued to a provider, this one for $2,384 worth of Medical-Legal services issued on behalf Zurich, for services rendered to a Mattress Firm employee.

As Gallagher Bassett repeats its dubious management of payment, we repeat: we can’t make this stuff up.

However, the provider’s bank statement (below) confirms the barely-believable fact that a major claims administrator seems to have found a whole new way to stiff physicians.

Additionally, the explanation of review (EOR) electronically sent to this provider clearly indicates Gallagher Bassett intended to reimburse the provider — until the TPA failed to reimburse the provider by bouncing the check.

The Plot Thickens

Somehow, this story gets even stranger.

A daisyCollect agent reached out to Gallagher Bassett. The Gallagher Bassett representative informed us that there is currently a “lien” on the account in question.

Gallagher Bassett offered no further information as to the nature of the “lien”, or why the “lien” would allow Gallagher Bassett to bounce checks. In fact, other checks issued to this provider by Gallagher Bassett both before and after the date of the bounced check cleared.

The Gallagher Bassett representative claimed they could not share contact information for the specific claims adjuster for this bill, and that any requests for further information must be submitted in writing to a PO Box maintained by Gallagher Bassett in Iowa. When pressed for details, the Gallagher Bassett representative…hung up the phone.

We’ll keep our readers updated on this truly odd tale as it unfolds.

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