Doctors who accept attorney’s letter of protection
You may have heard of the term LOP for car accidents, also known as a letter of protection or attorney lien. It is important to understand how a LOP can help in the event that you experience a serious car accident. Of course, there are both doctors who will accept attorney liens, but there are also many accident clinics that will not accept a medical lien. Urgent Care clinics and many other Health Physicians will require a cash payment up front for medical treatment after a car accident.
To get a Letter of Protection, you will need to schedule an appointment with an accident attorney. Injury Attorneys are your only option when it comes to getting a LOP for car accidents. Let’s discuss exactly what a Letter of Protection (LOP) is and how it can help you get proper medical treatment after a major car accident.
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What exactly are letters of protection (LOP)?
Let’s begin by discussing what a LOP is and how it can help you get medical treatment after a car wreck. That is to say, if you do not know what a Letter of Protection is then you will not how to ask for one if you experience a serious car accident.
A letter of protection is actually very simple to understand. The Injury attorney will give your doctor a lien or letter of protection against the funds from the settlement. Said simply, the attorney guarantees that the accident doctor will get paid their fair share of any settlement funds.
A LOP makes it easier for the patient or accident victim to seek immediate medical care without worrying about the payments. There are rare circumstances where accident doctors will not accept an attorney’s lien. For example, good accident doctors may choose to avoid working with questionable or unethical injury attorneys. Check to make sure that your accident doctor accepts attorney liens.
Who needs to get this Attorney Lien?
Understanding how a LOP works is one thing, but who gets this letter or lien? Also, can anyone submit a LOP, or is it something that only special people can ask for?
Any person who was injured in a car accident can apply for an attorney’s lien or letter of protection. To repeat, anyone who was injured in a car accident must choose to submit their own personal letter of protection. Those who fail to submit a LOP will not qualify for treatment in many states, regardless of fault. However, PIP and No Fault states such as Florida do not require a LOP to get medical treatment after a car accident.
First, your accident attorney will draft the LOP for your case. Next, you and your attorney will sign this letter and send the LOP to your accident doctor. At this point, all of your car accident treatment is covered with zero out of pocket expense to you.
Doctors who still accept LOP letters from attorneys
There is a growing debate at the moment that good attorney liens are getting harder to obtain. To begin with, a medical lien or LOP is a serious financial instrument that provides protection for the accident doctor. However, while a LOP may give the accident doctor claim to a portion of the settlement money, it does not protect against a dishonest or greedy attorney. Many good accident doctors will not accept a LOP from attorneys who have shown predatory behavior or dishonest billing practices.
In addition, there is a chance that your accident doctor will not get paid if your personal injury case loses in court. In the event that your case loses in court, you will be personally responsible for all medical expenses incurred from your automobile accident. For this reason, we recommend contacting a qualified accident doctor who understands how to both document and represent auto accident cases in court.
Make sure that your accident doctor will accept a LOP before your first appointment. You can use PIP and Med Pay coverage before needing a LOP in certain states such as Florida. However, you may need a LOP if your medical coverage exceeds PIP and Med Pay.
What happens with the LOP letter after the court case?
When the court case is settled, the letter of protection is no longer valid. Furthermore, this means that you should attempt to pay all of your medical bills as soon as possible. It doesn’t really matter if you have received all of the compensation for your injuries or not. Understandably, it can be scary and stressful to know that you have high medical bills after your car accident. If you cannot afford your medical bills, then contact your accident doctor to negotiate any unpaid bills.
Oftentimes, this happens when your application for injury compensation is rejected. At this point, you can’t go back to the doctor and say “sorry, I can’t pay your medical bills.” This is something that not many patients understand. They think that they should only pay their medical bills once the compensation was approved and you have received money for your medical treatment. This can leave you with high medical bills, as well as unpaid attorney bills.
Pros and cons of a letter of protection (LOP)
Before you can consider getting a LOP, you should make sure that you know the pros and cons of a letter of protection. You might think that there are only benefits because you will not need to worry about the bills that are piling up. This isn’t the complete truth. There are pros as well as cons that you should consider after a serious auto accident.
The pros:
- It makes it easier to make appointments for checkups on your injuries sustained.
- A LOP can protect your credit score when you can’t pay the doctor immediately with each appointment.
- You can get your medical records a lot easier when you are making use of a letter of protection. The doctor will give you your medical records so that the case can come to a conclusion.
- Many doctors may even lower medical fees for treatment of serious car accident injuries.
- The accident physician will be much more willing to provide expert testimony about the seriousness of your injuries.
The Cons:
- The auto accident clinic may bill at higher rates because they fear reduced or non-payment. For example, this can happen when a patient chooses not to pay their medical bills after the court case is done.
- Your accident doctor may choose to send you to another clinic for X-Rays, MRI or other tests that will not accept a letter of protection. In that case, you will need to pay cash for the treatment of your collision injuries.
- Insurance companies can use a letter of protection against you, and you might not get your compensation for the injuries that you sustained.
- You will need to pay a large sum of money when you lose the court case and you don’t get any compensation.
- Your auto accident doctor may not honor a letter of protection because they don’t like your personal injury attorney.
Why Doctors won’t Take a Letter of protection
In some cases, auto accident clinics will not accept a letter of protection from your personal injury attorney. Coincidently, the main reason for this is that the injury clinic does not trust that the attorney. In other words, the accident clinic does not trust that the attorney will honor the letter of protection or lien.
Many large law firms operate in this way, which is why a good accident doctor will not accept their LOP. Shameless, dishonest injury attorneys will seek out doctors that they can manipulate into accepting pennies on the dollar for medical care. Skilled accident doctors know these large attorney firms and will not accept their clients.
Where can you find a doctor that will accept the letter of protection
It can be hard and frustrating to find a car accident doctor that will accept the letter of protection. To be clear, a LOP isn’t something that every clinic wants to accept. This can make it difficult to find an accident doctor who will provide quality medical treatment under a letter of protection.
Doing research and talking to staff is the best way to make sure that you have a clinic that will accept a LOP. The worst choice you can make is treating with a doctor who does not accept an attorney lien before finding a qualified accident medical doctor. Consequently, you will be liable for all medical bills not covered by the LOP
Many people don’t even know what LOP stands for
Many of the patients we treat are unfamiliar with liens and what a LOP really means. LOP stands for letter of protection, which means that you will not need to worry about the medical bills after your car collision. A LOP gives you time to ensure that you have an accident doctor who accepts both third party billing and attorney liens.