Debt Recovery

Psychiatrists and their staff regularly struggle to recover payments from patients. People do not always fulfill their promise of making installments on time, forcing the in-house staff of your medical practice to make repeated calls and mailing invoices to these people. Several of these unpaid medical bills appear unrecoverable as time passes by, leaving employees completely frustrated and helpless. This is where a medical collections agency comes for the rescue and attempts to recover past-due bills in an amicable and legally permitted manner.

If you are looking for a cost-effective debt collection agency: Contact us

Accounts receivable problem has plagued the psychiatric industry for a long time now, and in-house staff often lament on the common issues they have to grapple with – with no clear answer or solution in sight. Below are some of these common issues.

1. Denial of Insurance Claims

One of the most common billing issues is denied insurance claims. Psychiatric facilities are often not cognizant of the fact that an inadequate denial management process can cause the loss of a significant portion of potential profits. While the report of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), states that every healthcare firm should have a denial rate of 4%, some psychiatric firms’ rates soar to 10% or more.

2. Lack of accounts receivable management

Improper accounts receivable management in psychiatric practices can lead the firm towards loss that includes bad debts. Psychiatric practices can mitigate this by properly reconciling their bank statements to verify that they have not missed an entry and that all the transactions are accurate. Also the receivables staff must precisely review every claim form before submission to make certain it meets the guidelines and try to keep a follow up of denied claims.

3. Unnecessary Write-offs

Most write-offs are related to denied claims and can eventually affect the balance sheet if they occur regularly. Rather than automatically writing off denials, the accounts receivable staff should take the time to review each claim to ensure that all payment options have been exhausted. Account receivable staff can also work with patients to reduce their balance.  A review of each overdue patient account could significantly improve receivables.

4. Restricted Mode of Payment

Psychiatric facilities with a sole mode of the payment run the risk of no-or-late payments. A restricted mode of payment can pose an obstacle when collecting payment. Hence, psychiatric facilities should keep various modes of payments such as accepting payments to maintain smooth cash flow.

Hiring a Collection Agency

As previously stated, inadequate accounts receivable management processes are significant contributors to the financial loss of psychiatric practices. Unfortunately, this is one of the greatest challenges psychiatric firms face. One of the simplest methods available to counter this is to hire a professional collecting agency.

Psychiatric facilities that are unable and unequipped to monitor and manage their accounts receivable can hire a professional collection agency to consult and provide aid in managing their accounts receivables. A collection agency work to reduce the time a firm receives payment for an outstanding claim by tracking these claims and researching the reason why they haven’t been paid yet, thus ensuring that the psychiatric facility receives payment from every claim. With the help of a collection agency, payment can occur within weeks. Besides, a professional collection agency has an accounts receivable management protocol in place. This means that they can help a psychiatric facility increase its client’s collections, minimize reimbursement issues, and speed up their cash flow. These agencies also provide follow up services to ensure that claims are paid promptly and that any issues hindering immediate payment are resolved.

The Bottom Line

A good accounts receivable process can transform the cash flow of any psychiatric practice from negative to positive. A seamless billing and account receivable process commences with analyzing the current account receivables methods and modify them where needed or hire a collection agency to ensure debts and outstanding claims get paid.

Medical practitioners specializing in women’s health often deal with the unpaid medical bills of their patients. Most medical professionals and their staff are tired of following up on unpaid patient balances, and the situation deteriorates each year.

Collection Agencies specializing in medical collections have helped general physicians and OB-GYN doctors recover past-due bills. These debt collectors understand the delicate nature of the doctor-patient relationship. Debt Collectors refrain from embarrassing patients as intensive collection strategies may spoil the reputation and relationship with the doctor. They must use a friendly/diplomatic approach to recover such debts. Women are extremely sensitive to pregnancy and gynecology issues, therefore accounts receivable related to women’s health must be dealt with great compassion by your  Collection Agency.

Need a Collection Agency? Contact Us

Regular follow-ups are crucial to ensure timely payment of outstanding bills. Without a systematic follow-up process, accounts receivable can quickly pile up. : Sometimes, insurance companies delay payments due to administrative issues. Claims can be denied or rejected due to various reasons such as incorrect patient information, inaccurate coding, or services not covered by the insurance plan.

Handling Account Receivables Issues for OB-GYN Professionals

As with any service that leads to a bill, there are situations where doctors have to approach billing issues and navigate financial situations with their patients. With the healthcare system, these can be tough issues to handle. Women’s health professionals and medical professionals practicing in OB-GYN must be able to resolve account receivables issues sensitively and effectively. Whether you’re dealing with billing issues, past due accounts, debt recovery, or minimizing AR, if you’re a women’s health professional, these are ways you can handle your finances and continue to advocate for your patients.

Why Do Medical Professionals Have Past Due Accounts

Healthcare costs have been rising in the US for years, and patients have difficulty keeping up with their medical expenses. According to this study, 62% of people say they have a serious concern about whether or not they’ll be able to pay for medical care. But of course, sometimes those bills can’t be avoided, and then you have patients who need the testing but struggle to pay the bill. Particularly now that high deductible health plans are more common, hospitals have had to figure out new ways to collect patient payments. There are a few ways OB-GYN practices can do this, detailed below.

How to Deal with Past Due Accounts

You can minimize your accounts receivable by requesting proper payment at the time of care, but that depends on knowing how much the patient will owe. If your patient’s bills can’t be calculated upfront, you can use the following methods to try to encourage prompt payments from your patients.

Start with in-person reminders– There are some ways that you can re-train your staff to handle past-due accounts in a natural and non-confrontational. For instance, you can ask your receptionist to check for past-due accounts and ask patients if they’d prefer to pay with cash or a credit card, rather than asking, “Do you want to pay your outstanding balance today?”.

Establish a protocol– When collecting past due bills, there should be an established number of calls and standard methods of communicating to clients that they have an outstanding payment due. That way, your clients will all be dealt with the same way without variation in their experience.

Be firm and diplomatic– It’s essential to be assertive when dealing with patients who have not paid their bills, particularly since you will likely encounter evasive responses and excuses.

Offer a payment plan– There’s no getting around it. Asking your patients to address their unpaid bills can be difficult, especially since you don’t know their situation. Healthcare is an incredible expense, and your office can be human about offering a solution. You can offer a payment plan to ensure that they are taking steps to cover the debt without demanding a lump sum that they might not be able to afford.

Collection Agency– Hire a good debt collection agency that has experience in recovering money for women health professionals and medical professionals practicing in OB-GYN.

Billing issues can happen no matter what industry you’re in and health is no exception. Recovering money from defaulters is a reality of life for doctors, and it’s crucial that you are able to do so in a way that still allows your patients to trust you. By following these guidelines and remembering to be human, you’ll be able to address billing issues in the medical field as effectively as possible.

If you need a medical collection agency with experience in dealing with debtors of OB-GYN and Women’s Health doctors: Contact us

There is much talk in national politics about the cost of healthcare and medical debt in general. Policy concerns aside, the rising medical debt in this country has a severe negative impact on medical practices from a business and accounting standpoint. Health care providers, like any other for or not for profit organization, need healthy cash flow to stay afloat. In many ways, poor cash flow can be a chronic illness for medical practices. Managing how much money your practice has, where it goes every month, and who is not paying, is the key to good business health. A good understanding of basic accounting concepts is helpful, but so too is an awareness of attitudes towards medical debt, realities of collection practices, and solutions to ensure your medical business practices good financial hygiene.

Understanding Accounts Receivable

Accounts receivable is an account status, and the total figure of accounts receivable is the total amount owed to a business. An accounts turnover receivable ratio is a calculation to measure the efficiency of a business’s billing practices. The formula is simple, but essential for businesses that measure their health in accounts receivable days:

Accounts Receivable Turnover = Net Credit Sales / Average Accounts Receivable

In this formula, Net Credit Sales are transactions where cash is collected at a later date, minus sales returns and sales allowance (or price reductions due to a problem with the sale.) Average accounts receivable is a figure derived from a business’s accounting records and represents how much a business typically has outstanding in credit sales.

For example, if a company has $10,000 in accounts receivable at the end of this year and $30,000 at the end of last year, its average accounts receivable would be $20,000. Let’s assume it also had $100,000 in gross credit sales, and $10,000 in returns, for a net credit sale of $90,000. In this example, the company’s accounts receivable turnover ratio would be determined by dividing $90,000 by $20,000, resulting in 4.5. This figure means that the company collects its receivables 4.5 times a year.

The higher the ratio, the more efficient the practice is in its billing. A low ratio indicates poor collection practices or patients that cannot afford their care.

Days in accounts receivable is an important metric because it gives insight into more than your patients’ financial ability to pay. This metric also reflects the efficiencies in your medical practice. There may be reasons why some patients cannot pay that are beyond your control, but often medical practices with high accounts receivable are those that lack systems and controls to prioritize payment. And, due to national trends that have been brewing for decades, the need today is urgent for medical practices to get a handle on their billing and payment practices.

The State of Medical Debt

According to recent figures, at least 43 million Americans have overdue medical bills. Some of the reasons for this significant figure can be debated. Medical care can be costly, but advances in medicine require innovation and expensive research. And increasingly complex insurance rules and changes in coverage can mean more people have to pay out of pocket for their care, without having money in their pockets.

Some believe this problem will only grow bigger, as trends like higher costs and higher insurance deductibles can increase bad debt for hospitals and providers. Legislation is in the works that will allow for bundled billing. The idea behind this is that patients are often saddled with medical debt because of a lack of insight on their part into patient financial responsibility. But that is only part of the problem.

Medical Bills from the Patient Perspective

Patients, regardless of ability to pay, often lack incentives to pay their medical bills. A medical provider is not like a utility or credit card issuer that can shut off the lights or decline a purchase. But in today’s connected and data-driven world, there are solutions within easy reach of all medical providers. It starts with how a medical practice is managed a clear understanding of accounts receivables as a measurement of business health. These solutions continue with clear communication that makes your patients your ally in ensuring your continued viability as a medical practice.

Solutions to High Accounts Receivables in Medical Practice

Medical practices should always work to minimize accounts receivable, as unpaid bills add nothing but cost to the bottom line. To have the revenue necessary to remain an economically viable business, a medical practice needs healthy cash flow. Throwing one’s hands up and blaming insurers or a national health care crisis does little to reverse accounts receivable at the provider level. But, a system that communicates, verifies, facilitates, and automates facilities patient responsibility can make the difference between a clean bill of financial health or an accounts receivable-induced flatline. 

Communicate expectations

Clear communication is the foundation of many solutions. With healthcare, patients need to know what the expectations are regarding their role in their care. Communication about financial matters should be as frequent as necessary for the patient not to be surprised or unprepared for payment. Should the care plan be more expensive than the patient can afford, the provider can work with the patient to schedule procedures or communicate with the patient’s insurer for clarification on coverage. 

Verify coverage

Regardless of patient communication, it is incumbent on medical offices to ensure that the patient’s coverage is accurate. A major reason for medical accounts receivable is a misunderstanding of the insurance billing process, on all sides of the equation. Just as communication is crucial, verifying insurance coverage should be a part of patient onboarding and ongoing verification of coverage. 

Facilitate payment

The old way of billing — sending a paper bill a few weeks after a patient’s care is complete, for example — does not encourage prompt payment. Today, some people don’t even use paper checks. Patients pay their Netflix subscriptions each month without fail, not only because that bill is so small, but also because the company makes payment a no-brainer. Embrace online payment, or even payment by phone to make a patient’s financial responsibility easier. 

Automate processes

These solutions work, but as you can see, they require work. Rather than burden a practice with the administrative tasks of communicating finances, verifying coverage, and accepting payments, practices should look to automated processes to manage their billing and payment follow up procedures. Today’s accounting and billing software can handle a large part of this process for you, with such features as automated payment reminders and incentivization.

Cash flow is essential for a medical practice’s success, but numerous obstacles can get in the way. With a clear understanding of receivables turnover ratio, and policies to make payment responsibility a priority for the provider and the patient, medical practices can regain control of their accounts receivables.

If you need a medical collection agency to recover money from your past due accounts: Contact Us

If you’ve been in business for any appreciable amount of time it’s likely that you’ve encountered bad checks. These are checks you deposit that can’t be paid by the writer’s bank because the account drawn on has insufficient funds to cover the amount or the signature does not match. This is how they get the designation NSF  ( non-sufficient funds).

Not only do bad checks cause problems for your cash flow, but they also end up costing you extra money in fees. Thankfully, several methods are available to businesses to collect on these returned checks, and many of them can be reasonably quick and painless.

Need a Collection Agency to recover money due to Bad/Bounced Checks? Contact us – Serving Nationwide We can help you recover unpaid bills using a low-cost flat fee service, or a contingency-fee only service. Most states will allow adding a $30 NSF fee. Did you know most collection agencies keep this whole fee? Only a handful of collection agencies will split this fee with their client. Serving Grocery Stores, Convenience Stores, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Pizza Chains, and Electric/Utility Companies.

When considering your approach, you should do whatever you can to avoid legal action. Lawsuits in small claims courts are costly and time-consuming. Also, because it’s your responsibility to collect any judgments you’re awarded, lawsuits are frequently ineffective, even when you win. Half of all judgments go uncollected, which means you may very well incur legal fees for no reason.

Here are five ways you can attempt to collect what’s owed you without resorting to court.

Call Your Customer’s Bank

The good news is that most people don’t write bad checks intentionally. More often than not they’re simply unaware that they don’t have the funds available. It could be that a check they’d written months ago was suddenly deposited. Or they miscalculated their account balance.

Whatever the case, it’s likely that the shortfall will be rectified once the check-writer is alerted to his or her mistake. So wait a few days and then ask the bank to check if funds are now available. If they are, you can redeposit the check.

The bank may also offer an enforced collection service. This will capture the needed funds from the next deposit your customer makes automatically.

Contact Your Customer

If you have your customer’s email address or phone number you can contact them to make them aware of the situation. This might feel pushy, but honest customers will usually welcome the alert. If they haven’t already gotten word from their bank your communication could help them avoid further bounced checks.

You can send your customer a certified letter if you don’t have immediate contact information. Not only does this alert them to the situation, but it also establishes a paper trail that could prove useful if your collection attempts prove unsuccessful.

Whichever way you make contact, politely and professionally ask for a payment, offering a number of alternative payment options.

Try a Check Recovery Service

Remembering to check in with your customer’s bank on a regular basis is difficult, and people frequently forget. This can be a problem because you only get three attempts to redeposit, and you don’t want to do that if you don’t know there are funds available. A better option is to use a check recovery service.

The provider of the service will monitor your customer’s account balance for you on a daily basis and then strategically redeposit the check when it’s most likely to be paid. This is a “set it and forget it” service, maximizing your chances of getting paid.

Best of all, you’ll get the full value of the check because check recovery services are nearly always free. Payment is taken as a fee charged to the bad check writer. Of course, the service can only work if the customer eventually deposits sufficient funds, and your check hits their account before those funds go elsewhere.

These are third-party services that guarantee payment on checks up to a certain amount. They can be beneficial but do come with a cost, so it’s essential to determine whether the benefits outweigh the expenses for your specific practice.

Your District Attorney’s Office May Be Able to Help

If you’ve exhausted friendlier options, you may find some relief through your local district attorney’s office. In some areas, they’ll send a letter on your behalf requesting an immediate satisfaction of the debt in order to avoid prosecution.

While this is generally an empty threat, the scare value alone is often enough to spur your customer into action.

Contact a Collection Agency

Contact a good collection agency if you’ve still found no relief after attempting everything listed previously. This is the most expensive option that doesn’t involve small claims, on average charging 40% of any amount collected, but it can help recover some portion of what’s owed you. Parting with 40% of something is always preferable to keeping the entirety of nothing.

The benefit of using a collection agency is that they’ll take over the entire collections process for you, freeing your time to focus on your business. Depending on the provider, it won’t cost you anything if they’re unsuccessful, so it’s certainly worth the attempt.

Remember that lawsuits are expensive, and any judgment you’re awarded could cost you considerably more when you attempt to collect it. It’s advisable to avoid court unless the amount owed is sufficiently high to warrant the cost and effort. As a method of last resort, a collection agency is a much better choice.

Medical debt has been a leading factor for residents of New Jersey claiming bankruptcy. This poses a problem for medical professionals who may have sent unpaid bills to a New Jersey medical debt collection agency.

While the need for more affordable medical care is at the forefront of the U.S.’s economic goals, hospitals and doctors still need to afford to care for their patients and pay for staff and medical supplies. The entire situation is a Catch-22, but if you’re considering hiring a New Jersey medical collection agency, here are a few factors to keep in mind.

Need a Medical Collection Agency in New Jersey? Contact us

New Jersey Medical and Health Care Debt Collection Statistics

Nearly 200,000 New Jersey residents have to deal with medical bills every year. These numbers specifically relate to healthcare providers who treated patients outside their insurance coverage. That’s why in June 2018, a measure was signed that instructs both medical providers and insurance companies to clearly disclose the scope of medical services provided under each insurance plan.

New Jersey also recently implemented Charity Care. According to LSNJ Law, “You will be eligible for full Charity Care coverage in 2018 if your annual gross income for the 12 months before your hospital care was not more than 200% of the federal poverty level, which is $24,280 in 2018 for a single person.”https://www.lsnjlaw.org/Health-Care/Uninsured/Charity-Care/Pages/Can-Charity-Care

New Jersey Medical Debt Collection Laws

In regards to new tactics such as Charity Care, New Jersey medical providers must offer long-term payment plans to their patients. These monthly payments cannot exceed more 15 percent of their discretionary income. Providers are also prohibited from sending patients to collection agencies unless they have missed two or more payments throughout the year. They also must cancel any unpaid medical debt from patients who qualify as being disabled.

Overall, these new affordable actions have been put in place in order to prevent medical providers from sending patients to a medical debt collector. Collection agencies don’t have the best reputations due to the lack of stipulations previously set in place. Now, however, collection agencies must abide by my strict laws and processes so that medical professionals can remain on decent terms with their patients despite sending bills to collection agencies.

New Jersey Medical Debt Collection Agency Process

The statute of limitations in New Jersey is six years. That means that hospitals and doctors have six years in which they can sue patients for unpaid medical debt. This is a pretty uncommon tactic to take. The furthest medical professionals are willing to go is to simply send their unpaid patient medical bills to collections. Medical debt can appear on the patient’s credit report when this happens. There are no limitations on how long a debt collection agency can pursue someone for unpaid debts. Despite popular belief, it does not go away once the statute of limitations has been met.

Thankfully, New Jersey medical debt collection agencies now have strategic and rigorous processes for reclaiming the medical debt. The debt collectors will reach out to patients with outstanding balances via email, phone, or direct mail. Like most states, New Jersey medical debt collection agencies are prohibited from harassing patients for payment.

How This is Effecting Medical Professionals in New Jersey

Recently, New Jersey assembly members Eric Houghtaling and Joann Downey proposed a plan to help residents with their medical debt. In lieu of sending their unpaid patient balances to a New Jersey medical debt collection agency, they want doctors to find a way to offer payment options. While this is a favorable factor for patients who can’t afford the rising costs of medical care, it puts medical professionals at risk of further delayed payment.

 

Michigan’s consumer debt problem has exceeded most other states in the country. The unemployment rate is over 4% which makes it one of the top 15 states with the highest unemployment rate. This has led to exuberant credit card and mortgage debt, as well as medical debt. And the reality is that some medical care providers have had no choice but to seek out repayment by using a Michigan medical debt collection agency.

If you are one of those healthcare providers who finds themselves in need of debt relief, here are a few things to keep in mind before contacting a Michigan medical collection agency.

Need a Medical Collection Agency in Michigan? Contact us

Michigan Medical and Health Care Debt Collection Statistics

The national average for unpaid medical bills is a little over $500. This may not seem like much until you take into consideration that 20% of Americans attribute to medical debt. Medical debt is actually the leading cause of bankruptcy among consumers in the United States.

And for a single medical professional, those unpaid bills can really add up. While systems are being set in place to help patients make affordable payments for healthcare services, some providers may still need help from a Michigan medical debt collection agency. This may seem like a negative alternative to some healthcare providers, but the process that medical debt collectors take is both practical and efficient.

Michigan Medical Debt Collection Agency Laws

In addition, creditors, such as doctors and hospitals, cannot seek legal action against their patients until the statute of limitations has been met. In Michigan, this time period is six years. After six years of non-payment, the medical professional is able to sue patients for unpaid debt.

Obviously, this is not the route that most professionals take as they wish to preserve amicable relationships with their patients. However, they may choose to seek unpaid debt by way of a Michigan medical debt collection agency. These agencies will work to communicate with former patients to find suitable payment solutions.

Collection agencies are now ordered under federal law to obtain unpaid medical bills in a cordial and ethical manner. Collection agencies are barred from continuous harassment (i.e. making relentless calls to a patient). This policy has been implemented nationwide so doctors can rest assured that their patients are being treated with professional courtesy.

Michigan Medical Collection Agency Process

What a collection agency will do, however, is pretty standard. Once the medical debt is sold to an agency, the agency then tries to contact the debtor. This is usually done through phone, direct mail, or email. Keep in mind that agencies are allowed to contact these people at work until the creditor specifically requests that they do not call work numbers. A patient can also request that a debt collector stops contacting them entirely. In such cases, legal action may be necessary in order to obtain the unpaid balance.

Under The Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a Michigan medical debt collection agency can only call patients between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. They cannot falsely advertise the reason for their call and the debt collectors are forbidden to harass these individuals. You can read the full scope of these terms here.