One of the more common problems with collections in the healthcare practices today are;
Not having a proper policy in place for collections. Some practices dont have Policy & Procedures manuals at all, let alone one that contains collection procedures once an account has become Delinquent.
Having collections policies in place that arent followed. This can be due to several reasons such as turn over of employees. The responsibility has been delegated to someone who is not a good candidate for collections. (It takes a special person.) Employees (as well as the business owner) look at the smaller balances rather than the larger picture and dont realize the amount of money that is slipping through the cracks. Or the employees just dont care, after all its not their money lost. Your patients will react to your billing depending on how you train them to do so. If youre lax about their debt, why wouldnt they be? In many cases the debt gets written off if they wait long enough. Or at least they hope so and take their chances.
Not knowing when its time to send to an outside collection agency. The older an account becomes, the harder the debt becomes to collect. Agencies offer a lot of advantages and incentives for your patients to pay their bills that a practice themselves cant give. In addition to delinquent accounts, collection agencies can help an account from becoming delinquent. They can run credit reports to see if a patient has the ability to pay a long term payment plan or for any credit thats been extended for healthcare as well as other types of businesses. (Just like the company you leased that x-ray machine from did.) They also have skip trace resources to find your patients after theyve moved. In many cases getting unpublished and or cell numbers. As weve delved further and further into the electronic age, this is an issue that the skip trace industries are addressing more feverishly than ever.
Agencies instill a sense of urgency that a practice whos allowed a debt to remain delinquent for more than 90 days has failed to do. Especially when they only communication with the practice has been through letters. A good agency always calls. They handle the debtor on a personal and professional manner while all along putting the debtor in the position to act on resolving their debt and being made aware of their options and the consequences they may face if ignored. Its much harder to for a debtor to ignore an effective collection agent, than it was to through away the bills. Many debtors fear that once the account has gone to a collection agency that its already affected their credit. The debtor gets their first collection agency letter and all of a sudden theyre eager to pay the debt to avoid their credit being affected in a negative manner or as many of the debtors think, to get the credit report cleared. Agencies, if they report to the credit bureau which most do, dont do so until their efforts have failed to resolve the account. So until then, the agency is just another department of the client theyre collecting for. But many debtors dont realize that. Lets keep it that way. Agencies usually have the ability to report to the main credit bureaus. This may help in the future when that young adult who thought they were bullet proof when they were younger and irresponsible, have to now pay for the consequences of their past. Now that they want to get a mortgage, car or any type of credit extended to them, they may have to resolve your debt to do so. Some debts have been resolved 5yrs down the line in cases such as this. Agencies also have the know how to help assist in recovering NSF payments. Did you know that Florida laws allow you to sue for four times the amount of the check and any collection fees incurred?
There is so much that a good agency can provide your business. A good tool is to get signed up with an agency ahead of time, and to forward the delinquent accounts in a timely manner as they come up. Different agencies have different requirements as far as minimums, sign up fees, if they report to a credit bureau, if they offer different payment options etc. Make sure they follow the FDCPA and are professional and courteous. An agency with a health care background is also a plus. These are all things that should be looked into when choosing an agency that would work best with you and your business. Medical providers are well aware that there are procedures that are best left to a specialist. The same goes for collections. At a certain point it is best to let a company that specializes in debt recovery handle these procedures as its what they do best.
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