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Practice Management Alert

Reader Questions:

Move Patient Payment Discussions Away From Front Window

Published on Thu Apr 20, 2006

Question: A patient with a $60 past-due balance reports to the office for his annual checkup. He says he does not have the $60 and does not know when he will pay. Our front-desk people are not really equipped to handle patients who don't want to pay. So what should we do when a patient reports and tells us he will not be paying his past-due balance?

Michigan Subscriber Answer: You should let someone from the billing department handle those situations because they tend to have better collections training than the people who work the front window.
 
When a patient cannot (or does not want to) pay, have the person up front contact a representative from the billing department. The rep should then escort the patient to a private area to discuss how he will settle his account.
 
Benefits: A billing department representative is the best bet to successfully handle the situation, and the front-desk person is not tied up discussing the past-due balance.
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