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How To Collect Medical Debt
How can medical practices, hospitals, clinics, dentists and other healthcare providers, reduce their past-due receivables, collect medical debt, and help ensure their healthcare operation continues to be profitable?
To start, an it is estimated that 86% + of all medical services are paid for through by some sort of 'quasi' credit arrangement. This makes medical providers credit grantors, whether or not they want to be. Due to the very nature of insurance reimbursement, there is usually some uncertainty of what the patient will ultimately owe, causing a balance bill. This is why the ability to collect medical debt is so important.
Although by default medical providers offer a portion of their services on credit, the circumstances are different than a traditional credit arrangement in several ways:
In most situations, the patient would rather not have to use the service.
When it is time for the patient to pay their bills, medical bills are often at the bottom of the pile. Medical providers are competing with the mortgage company, auto financing company, phone company, etc.
Unfortunately there is a large portion of patients who believe that health insurance covers everything, or that 'doctors make enough money', so they do not have to pay. There just isn't any urgency for the patient to pay after their are better or leave because of lack of any perceived consequences.
This makes it vital to discover as much as possible about the patient and make your payment policy crystal clear, before the medical service is actually given - when possible. Upon the first visit or admission, some information a medical practice or facility should obtain is:
The patients' full name and date of birth.
The full name of the person financially responsible for the patient (guarantor), full address, phone numbers for home, work, and a relative when possible.
Social Security number. This is very useful if the patient turns into a medical collects account.
Present employer, job title, name of supervisor, address, & phone number when possible.
Name and address of insurance company. Verification of insurance information is important at this time if possible.
POTENTIAL MEDICAL COLLECTIONS PROBLEMS
Here are some warning signs to be aware of that can help predict a potential medical collection problem:
Has the patient had several jobs over the last year?
Has the patient moved several times over the last 2 years?
Is the patient having any personal problems that they have shared?
Does the patient have a phone they can be reached on?
If any of these warning signs appear, the practice or facility should discuss them with the patient pronto. Sometimes patients really are having financial hardships - here a payment arrangement or write off in some cases might be appropriate.
A practice or facility should never spend too much time, usually past 90 days, pursuing accounts. After 90 days a medical collections agency should be employed.
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