Practice Management Alert

Question: Our in-house collections procedure is not as regimented as it could be. How many statements should we send to a patient, and how long should we try to collect on an account before sending it to an outside collector?


Georgia Subscriber

Answer: For best results, you should have a written policy on collections that you follow consistently for every past-due account.
 
The number of statements you send will depend on your patient base and what works best for your practice. However, sending two statements before initiating further collections efforts is probably the most common practice. If you haven't received payment after 60 days (two statements sent 30 days apart), your next step should be a phone call to inform the patient you want to prevent his account from going to collections. Many times, personal contact is all it takes to resolve the situation.

Time is precious: The length of time you wait before sending accounts to an outside collector will also depend on what policy is most successful for your practice - and circumstances will vary from one patient's account to the next. But the bottom line is this: The longer you wait to follow up on past-due accounts, the less likely you are to ever see your money.
 
Make sure you have a written policy that dictates exactly when you will send statements, make phone calls and send accounts on to the outside collector. Sticking to such a timetable is very important for successful collections.

Payment plans help: Preserving good patient relations is important, and many times this may mean working with the patient to arrive at a payment schedule both of you can agree on. Although it may take longer to get your money, a payment plan will help financially struggling patients avoid an outside collector.

Manners matter: Slightly aggressive or threatening tones may seem more effective when corresponding with patients who owe you money, but in fact the opposite is true. Collections experts agree that compassion and sensitivity to a patient's situation are far more likely to be successful - just  don't let patients walk all over you.

 - The answers to the Reader Questions were provided and/or reviewed by Wayne J. Miller, attorney with Compliance Law Group in Los Angeles; and Catherine Brink, CMM, CPC, president of HealthCare Resource Management Inc. in Spring Lake, N.J.