Third Party Billing: Minnesota law (M.S.125A.21) requires that school districts seek reimbursement from private and public health insurers for the cost of health-related services provided to students who receive special education services. If your child receives health-related services as part of their Individual Education Program, Individual Family Service Program or IIIP, a member of your child’s team may ask your permission to share information with your insurer and/or physician in order to bill for these services. Health-related services are developmental, corrective and supportive services that are required in order for a student to benefit from their program of specialized instruction. Health-related services include supports such as:
While districts are required to seek payment from both private and public insurers, Byron Public Schools will seek to bill only public insurance – Medical Assistance (MA) and Minnesota Care (MC). Billing public insurance has no impact on your child’s nor family’s medical coverage. Byron Public Schools will not seek to bill private insurance, as doing so could cause your insurance rates to increase and/or have other negative effects on your child’s and family’s insurance coverage. If your child is covered both by private insurance and MA/MC, the district will ask your permission to contact your private insurer to seek a denial of coverage (private insurers typically will not pay for services provided by schools). Once we have received a letter of denial, we will then bill your public insurance. One of the most important things to know is that Minnesota laws offer protections to parents and students when schools bill MA or MC. These protections include:
Minnesota law requires that any money received from third party billing can only be used for three things:
|