Final answer:
Verifying a patient's eligibility and benefits is key for avoiding billing issues and ensuring the patient receives entitled healthcare benefits. This process is also important due to insurance companies' ability to negotiate lower rates, affecting coverage.
Step-by-step explanation:
It is crucial to verify a patient's eligibility and benefits at each visit to ensure that the healthcare services provided are covered by the patient's insurance plan. This process helps in avoiding billing issues, minimizing the risk of unexpected costs for both the healthcare provider and the patient, and ensuring that the patient receives all the healthcare benefits to which they are entitled. Insurance companies can often negotiate lower rates due to their large number of clients, which influences the cost of treatments and can affect a patient's coverage.