If your practice spends too much time chasing down patient overdue balances, maybe you should rethink some of your up-front policies related to collections. In a recent blogpost, TMA endorsed vendor IC System, a collection agency, offered a few suggestions.
Here are the highlights (read the full post on the IC System website):
- Have a late payment policy. A good policy helps patients know what to expect. It should state clearly when payment is due and what actions you will take when it doesn’t arrive, including at what point you will turn over the account to collections.
- Take time for an accurate estimate. “We always say the customer is entitled to a solid forecast of what they’re in for before service begins,” the blog says. Be sure to explain what variables will affect the patient’s costs. (Whenever possible, collect copays and coinsurance at the time of service.)
- Do a credit check. Before you extend credit for larger amounts to a patient, you might want to find out his or her payment history and credit score to learn how reliable the patient is likely to be. For those with a shaky payment history, you could consider a higher down payment or a lower credit extension.
- Make it easier for customers to make payments. Do you take credit cards? Do you offer online payment? “If your customers have to dig out their seldom-used checkbooks and go out and buy stamps in order to pay you, you’ll be waiting longer for your money,” the blog says. Offer online payment through your patient portal or a credit card processing company like Global Payments Integrated (formerly TSYS), also a TMA-endorsed vendor.
- Partner with a collection agency as a last resort. TMA recommends you make several scheduled attempts to collect past-due bills, then send the account to collections no later than 90 days past due. As an endorsed vendor, IC System offers TMA members a 20-percent discount on its services. For information, call the company at (800) 279-3511.
More Help From TMA:
- Rx for Success: Communicating to Improve Collections, a book available in the TMA Education Center, illustrates how physicians and staff can talk to patients about the practice’s payment policy to increase the fees collected at the time of service or within a payment plan.
- TMA Practice Consulting can help with a Revenue Cycle Assessment. A consultant will work with you to create an enforceable, written collections policy as part of a full review of your billing and collections process. Call a consultant for more information at (800) 523-8776 or email practice.consulting[at]texmed[dot]org.
Published Sept. 12, 2017
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Last Updated On
May 14, 2021
Originally Published On
September 12, 2017