Personal touch used to explain payment rules
Personal touch used to explain payment rules
Counselors track the private paying sector
When new patients walk into Valley Medical Center in Lewiston, ID, they’re asked to read a brochure about the practice that discusses payment policies.
If a patient is having surgery and a large bill is involved, staff spend time with him, making sure he understands how much the copay is and that he is expected to pay it in a timely manner.
"It doesn’t pay to talk to every patient individually when he only is coming in for a $35 or $40 office visit," says John Houser, FACMPE, chief executive officer of the multispecialty practice.
The practice typically collects less than 50% of its patient copays upfront but does a good job collecting them later, he adds. "You have to be careful about what your community standards are. We always try to improve our upfront collections within an appropriate balance of good marketing and public relations," Houser says.
Valley Medical has patient account counselors who keep up with the private-paying sector of the practice. That includes any copay owed by a patient with insurance as well as a patient who is without insurance or whose insurance does not cover office visits.
The practice has a standard policy for overdue private accounts, which specifies a series of actions, starting with a telephone call, followed by a letter. If 90 days elapses without a payment or a returned phone call, the account is turned over to a collection agency. The practice gets a 25% to 35% return from the collection agency, Houser says.
Subscribe Now for Access
You have reached your article limit for the month. We hope you found our articles both enjoyable and insightful. For information on new subscriptions, product trials, alternative billing arrangements or group and site discounts please call 800-688-2421. We look forward to having you as a long-term member of the Relias Media community.