tips for collecting account balances from your patients

Simplifying and Unifying Communications Through Technology

How to Collect Account

Balances from Your Patients

Practices Collecting Directly from Self-Pay Patients

• Rising numbers of uninsured & underinsured in U.S.

– 47 million Americans (15.4%) are uninsured (CDC National Center

of Health Statistics)

– 25 million Americans are underinsured

• More is paid out of pocket as deductibles and co-pays for

employee sponsored plans continue to rise

– Employees need to contribute more for health care

– Dependent coverage cut

– High deductible health care plans gaining popularity

• Bad debt on the rise

– Health care bad debt is at record levels

– U.S. hospitals have $40 billion in unpaid patient bills (MSNBC)

Simplifying & Unifying Communications Through Technology

Medical Billing vs. Medical Collections

• The world of medical coders and billers

– Coders are responsible for accurate coding of claims, they may

audit and re-file appeals of claims

– Billers gather information from patients & physicians, ensure that

insurance forms are completed and signed, submit claims to

insurance companies for reimbursement

– Billers provide invoices to patients

– Billers track payment process to ensure payment is received, they

may handle patient inquiries

– Billers sometimes contact patients about past due accounts

• Collections not emphasized

• If using an outside firm that charges per claim, they have little incentive to

pursue past due accounts

• Be wary of billing companies that own or have affiliate relationships with

collection agencies


Most Practices Mail Bill Reminders


Source: Webley research, 2009 survey

Success of Medical Practices at Bill Collections

Source: NaviNet, 2009 survey of medical practices

N = 1279


Concern Over Payments

• “The number of physicians who said they were concerned with collecting from self-pay patients and those with high-deductible plans and/or health savings accounts rose from 50% a year ago to 60% this year.” (MGMA 2009 survey)


• The McKinsey Quarterly estimates that 40% - 50% of patient accounts receivables are uncollected (June 2007)

– 50% to 70% of small dollar liabilities for insured patients are collected

Challenges of Internal Bill Collections

• Patient privacy violations could lead to fines

– Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

• Could get in trouble for calling someone at their place of employment or

discussing the debt with third parties, other than the person’s spouse or attorney

• Slow, time-consuming, uncomfortable for office staff to

make calls about account balances

– Patient may not have privacy during call to speak about the

situation

– Staff has to deal with excuses, evasions, etc.

– Calls aren’t consistently made

• Easy for patients to ignore or overlook mailed statements

– Phone calls more effective at getting attention

– Mailing statements is expensive


Bill Collections is Effortful but Necessary


Source: 2008 McKinsey consumer healthcare payment survey

Best Practices of Bill Collections

• Clear payment & collections policy communicated to

patients

– Post on website, at your practice, on patient statements

– Remind patients when scheduling the appointment

• Have new patients or patients you haven’t seen for awhile

contact insurance verification department

• Collect at the time of service whenever possible

• Provide prompt billing & easy to understand patient

statements

• Late fees or charging interest on outstanding balances



• Make it easier to pay – Online bill pay

– Accept debit cards

– Accept credit cards• A client of MBA HealthGroup went from collecting 15% of

co-pays at the time of the visit to 40% after accepting credit cards

• According to an article in the American Medical News (June 22, 2009): “practice management consultants say the option of credit cards is well worth the cost of transaction fees, compared with issuing paper statements and dealing with the hassles and costs of bounced checks.”

• See privately insured on a cash only basis– Lower administrative cost because patient handles

submitting the claim

• May want to consider using collections agency for accounts over 90 days old– Choose a collections agency with healthcare

experience

– Agencies charge .33 per $1 collected and only collect 14% of the total amount due)



• Send payment reminders

– Contact those with outstanding

balances at least once a month (30,

60, 90 days)

– Automate account balance reminders

– Combine phone and mail reminders

to reach more patients


Cost of Account Balance Notifications


Manual Automated Savings Qty/Month

Phone Calls $0.55 $0.15 $0.40 ?

Postcards $0.50 $0.15 $0.35 ?

Letters $1.00 $0.15 $0.85 ?

How Webley MD Reminders Work


Create file of patients with outstanding

balances

Log in online, send data to Webley

Personalized messages generated

Messages sent to patients by phone, by

email

Campaign reports are generated

Webley MD User Interface


2 simple steps and your work is done

Account Balance Script

“This is a message from Dr. Smith with important information regarding the status of your account. Please call us within the next 24 hours at (123) 456-7890 during regular business hours to discuss this important matter. Thank you for your assistance.”


Benefits of Automating Account Balance Reminders


• Cost & labor savings– Save on postage costs– Save on labor

• Easier & faster to remind patients– With consistent reminders, more patients will pay, shorter A/R

cycle– Fewer accounts will go to collections agency

• Improved staff & patient satisfaction– Fewer calls to make about payments– Patients will call in ready to discuss their accounts– Frees up staff time for patients– Frees up phone lines, reduces phone tag

• Reduce exposure to legal liability

Better cash flow, increased office efficiency

Webley Corporate Overview

• Founded In 1997

• Industry Pioneer in Advanced Speech Applications:

• Unified Communications

• After Hours Messaging

• Broadcast Messaging

• 7 Advanced Speech Patents

• 50,000 Active Customers

• Delivering 180,000,000 Transactions Per Year

• Fully Redundant Data Centers

• Numerous Awards For Technology Product of the Year, including:


Recipient of 2009 Product of the Year Award for

Webley MD Reminders from Customer Interaction

Solutions Magazine


For additional information:

1-877-7-WEBLEY

[email protected]

tips for collecting account balances from your patients

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