The healthcare industry’s future depends largely on the income it generates. That’s why concerns about the increasing number of patients who couldn’t pay their medical bills are growing. Getting patients to settle their medical debts would mean that medical practices would have to improve their internal collection methods drastically. They’d have to put in place a more efficient and effective system; failing that, another option is to hire a debt collection agency’s service.
Setting up an efficient collection system should be the priority before turning to a collection agency. Regrettably, situations will arise where a practice has no choice but to get outside help. Debt collection is something that medical practices shouldn’t have to worry about, but, sometimes, a third-party collection agency is required.
How Collection Agencies Can Help Your Practice
Getting patients to settle outstanding balances is crucial for your practice. But, with employers having to deal with increasing healthcare costs, many choose health insurance plans that put the financial responsibility on their employees. These employees have found themselves responsible for a bigger portion of their health insurance costs. Unsurprisingly, they’re having a hard time settling their medical bills.
This situation means a significant number of your patients would be unable to cope with their medical bills. Your practice would be forced to invest a substantial amount of time and resources getting patients to settle their accounts. Your staff would be reaching out to them regularly, sending out emails and letters, making calls in a frantic effort to decrease patient debt and make your collection method look good.
You could do all that, or you could just hire one of those medical collection agencies if you feel overwhelmed by the number of patients’ overdue bills. Below is a list of ways how your practice can increase profit from using collection agencies.
Following up on debt collection takes a lot of time. Your practice would have to contact slow payers by mailing letters, sending emails, and tracking them down by phone. You and the rest of your staff should be focused on your practice’s primary concern, which is healthcare.
Having a collection agency takes care of the outstanding debts would mean your staff’s workload would be substantially reduced, which would lessen the prospect of employee burnout. Morale among your staff would also be improved, and productivity increased. Freeing them from debt collection would let your team focus on patient care and ensure your practice runs smoothly.
The possibility of your practice collecting from your patients when you hire a medical collection agency is much higher. Your patients might ignore your staff’s collection attempts, but they might think twice about ignoring a medical agency’s collection efforts.
A notice of late payment from your friendly staff can be tossed aside and promptly forgotten. On the other hand, a patient receiving a letter or a call from a collection agency can be intimidating. It’s because a medical collection agency’s technique of recovering an outstanding debt is firmer and more professional, which has a better success rate.
Medical collection agencies hire experts who are trained and experienced in collecting unsettled bills. These professionals are more capable and more suited in this field than your staff members, whose training and expertise don’t focus on debt collection.
Moreover, professionals from collection agencies utilize tried and tested methods to get the most out of the collections process. They could also give you higher chances of making your patients pay most, if not all, of their unpaid bills.
A medical collection agency’s effort, successful or not, could provide your practice with proper documentation for all their attempts at getting your patients to settle their outstanding debts. Emails, snail mails, logs of phone calls, and in-person contacts are all meticulously logged and recorded, as well as the results. They also note down any amounts collected and the remainder of the debt tallied.
If ever your business decides to go to court, the documentation will be invaluable. The documents will be of great help to your lawyers, and they can also determine whether the expense of going to court is worth it based on the amount owed by the patient.
Conclusion
Making use of a medical collection agency can alter how your practice conducts business. Handing over the job of collecting outstanding debts to a third party can substantially improve your revenue. What’s more, hiring a medical collection agency would let your staff focus on the task they’re trained to do, which is healthcare. Leave the debt collection to the professionals instead.
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