Condensed from an article in MGMA Connexion, Nov-Dec 2005
Increasing health insurance costs are resulting in more " patients in your medical practice. Unfortunately, many such patients are slow to pay or don't pay their bills.
In order to help you avoid the cash-flow problems integral to such patients, here are ten suggestions that can dramatically improve your payment results:
1. Have and publish a defined credit policy.
2. Invoice promptly and send regular statements.
3. Use "address service requested" to keep you apprised of address changes.
4. Contact overdue accounts more frequently (suggested every 10-14 days).
5. Use your aging sheet, not your feelings.
6. Train your staff to treat collection accounts courteously, yet firmly.
7. Admit and correct your mistakes. Billing errors can definitely disrupt a patient's likelihood of making payment.
8. Follow state collection laws to avoid serious repercussions.
9. Consider using a third party collection service for overdue accounts.
10. Realize that nobody collects every account. Identify uncollectible accounts early and avoid spending manpower and resources on them.
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