Waiving a co-pay or deductible is clearly fraudulent, and a violation of PPO agreements. It is a common practice, but you will be in trouble with an audit.
My understanding is that you can give any discount you want to cash paying patients, as we are not yet under a level of tyranny that would prevent free trade in that situation. However, we are close. You cannot routinely provide free care as Medicare considers this fraudulent. They see you are giving free care to one person, but not to their seniors, and thus you "are defrauding the government." If you quit Medicare all together, I imagine you could. I know of one Med School Prof who quit Medicare for the sake of continuing an indigent free clinic, which Medicare was trying to shut down on these grounds. I never waive deductible, co-pays, or Medicare charges. That being said, no one can force you to go after a patient for an unpaid balance, so there are times when I've told patients I will never send them to collections.
Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer. You should consult your own lawyer for advice. The above does not constitute medical advice, and is posted for entertainment purposes only. The lawyers made me say this.
