Problem: Lisa Warren is a newly hired health insurance specialist at a small medical practice, and she is responsible for completing and submitting CMS-1500 claims. Toward the end of her second day on the job, she is asked to take a phone call from a patient who has questions about his submitted claim.
The patient tells Lisa that he just received an explanation of benefits (EOB) from his third-party payer, and it makes no sense because the bottom part of the form that is supposed to include a tear-off check is blank. He tells Lisa that EOB says that he agreed to the assignment of benefits. The patient is upset because he needs that money to buy groceries.
What is meant by the phrase assignment of benefits?