Practice Management Alert

You can preserve your public image and win the case if you plan carefully

When you make the tough decision to sue a patient for an unpaid account, your preparation from that point on can make all the difference in establishing an airtight case. The next time you take a patient to court expecting to recover a lot of cash, consider these six legal-expert tips:

1. Document all collection attempts. In court, good records are what will save the day. You should be able to show evidence of every collection attempt you made. Your collection letters should be friendly, but firm - and never threatening, says Elliott Oppenheim, MD, JD, LLM Health Law, CEO and president of coMEDco, Inc. in Santa Fe, N.M. Collection letters should prove that you clearly informed the patient you would send his account to a third-party collector after a given date, he says.

2. File a lien. A healthcare provider can have a lawyer file a lien against the patient's assets, Oppenheim says, which means the patient can't sell assets without satisfying your account.

3. Have a biller testify - not a doctor. If your practice sues a patient, you should hire a lawyer. "It looks terrible for a doctor to appear in small- claims court groveling about money," Oppenheim says. Give your record of collection attempts to your attorney and have a member of the billing staff testify about collection efforts, he says.

4. Recount patient satisfaction in collection letters. If you decide to sue, the patient's most likely defense will be to portray the physician as an incompetent practitioner who provided inadequate care, Oppenheim says. Collection letters that recount the patient's expressed satisfaction with the physician's care "stand as irrefutable evidence of satisfaction at the time of care" and can boost your case, he adds. 

5. Pursue an assets check. If you can't decide whether to write off a balance or take the patient to court - and you're dealing with a large enough balance, such as $5,000 or greater - a quick assets check could solve your dilemma.
 
Assets checks have minimal costs, and you're within your legal rights to look at information that is part of the public record, Oppenheim says. In the event that the patient in question does have money to pay, you'll be glad you did some sleuthing rather than writing off the account.

6. Ask your lawyer to front court fees. If possible, have the attorney front court fees to your doctor "so that the lawyer remains in the position of risk," Oppenheim says. This may motivate your lawyer on the case, but it also guards you against financial loss if you lose in court.