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Guidelines for requesting point-of-service payment and maintaining patient credit card information
Act
immediately
Effective date
Jun 1, 2026
Identified
Jun 19, 2026
Summary
BCBSRI prohibits providers from collecting upfront payments from members with deductibles and requires automatic refunds when final adjudication shows overpayment, without waiting for member requests. Refunds must be processed timely and returned to the original payment source.
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What to do
immediately · 4 steps
01Front desk staff must stop collecting upfront payments from BCBSRI members with deductibles.
02Billing team must establish automated refund process to issue overpayment refunds within 30 days of receiving remittance advice, without requiring member requests.
03Configure billing system to track original payment methods and process refunds to original source.
04Train staff on new payment collection restrictions.
Original notice
Guidelines for requesting point-of-service payment and maintaining patient credit card information
bcbsri.com · Always check the source before changing claims.