Guest guest Posted February 23, 2010 Report Share Posted February 23, 2010 Hello, I am looking for suggestions on how you handle patients who won't pay their bill. 1) We had a patient who didn;t pay her premium for her secondary insurance, so of course they won't pay us. Wew have made numerous attempts to get her to pay. Has anyone issued these patients a 1099 for services rendered but not paid. I understand we can do that? Do any of you have a collection agency that actually works? I appreciate your help in this matter. You can e-mail me directly at lydiapropt@... Thanks, Lydia Radosevich,PT New Mexico Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 23, 2010 Report Share Posted February 23, 2010 Hi, Absolutely agree with Elmer's post. We make the effort to call and be as helpful as possible to clients initially. We offer reasonable payment plans for people in real need sometime with minimal or no interest. We have so few that it does not impact us financially. It took us going through 2 other agencies in about 4 years but the third time was the charm as we found a collection agency that did its job and did it well. I always encourage, even my friends in other businesses, to have a good collection agency on board. We try to keep to good customer service standards and we do everything on our end to collect through appropriate and professional contact from our clinic. We are satisfied that we did everything possible to work out payment prior to referring a case to collections. Finally, an additional point is that if you have a high number of cases needing to go to collections, I would recommend looking at you pricing and billing procedures, even if it means getting a consultant. Find out the reason why so many are not paying. Even with external factors like a lot of people in your area recently losing jobs or such, you can make business decisions internally that can help. We have always found that getting some money, say in a monthly payment plan, is much better than getting nothing or having to pay 40% of it to a collections agency. Tom Howell, P.T., M.P.T. Howell Physical Therapy Eagle, ID thowell@... This email and any files transmitted with it may contain PRIVILEGED or CONFIDENTIAL information and may be read or used only by the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient of the email or any of its attachments, please be advised that you have received this email in error and that any use, dissemination, distribution, forwarding, printing or copying of this email or any attached files is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please immediately purge it and all attachments and notify the sender by reply email. _____ From: PTManager [mailto:PTManager ] On Behalf Of Elmer Platz Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 9:38 AM To: PTManager Subject: RE: Collections Lydia, Collections are tough! Best way to avoid them is to verify all coverages up-front; without exception. Have a policy on collection of co-pays, etc. and stick to it. Be transparent, consistent and fair in your financial arrangements with clients/patients/customers. The 1099 as a strategy seems 'messy' to me and of questionable value. I'd speak with other local business people and get some solid recommendations on a reputable collection agency in your area. When all else fails, and we try really hard before passing a debt to an outside source for collection, a good collection agency will assist you with any court actions and take care of reporting to credit agencies. I've been satisfied with this approach for over 25 years. Good luck! Elmer Platz, PT From: PTManager@yahoogrou <mailto:PTManager%40yahoogroups.com> ps.com [mailto:PTManager@yahoogrou <mailto:PTManager%40yahoogroups.com> ps.com] On Behalf Of lydia radosevich Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 11:10 AM To: ptmanager@yahoogrou <mailto:ptmanager%40yahoogroups.com> ps.com Subject: Collections Hello, I am looking for suggestions on how you handle patients who won't pay their bill. 1) We had a patient who didn;t pay her premium for her secondary insurance, so of course they won't pay us. Wew have made numerous attempts to get her to pay. Has anyone issued these patients a 1099 for services rendered but not paid. I understand we can do that? Do any of you have a collection agency that actually works? I appreciate your help in this matter. You can e-mail me directly at lydiaproptyahoo (DOT) <mailto:lydiapropt%40yahoo.com> com <mailto:lydiapropt%40yahoo.com> Thanks, Lydia Radosevich,PT New Mexico Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 23, 2010 Report Share Posted February 23, 2010 Hi, Absolutely agree with Elmer's post. We make the effort to call and be as helpful as possible to clients initially. We offer reasonable payment plans for people in real need sometime with minimal or no interest. We have so few that it does not impact us financially. It took us going through 2 other agencies in about 4 years but the third time was the charm as we found a collection agency that did its job and did it well. I always encourage, even my friends in other businesses, to have a good collection agency on board. We try to keep to good customer service standards and we do everything on our end to collect through appropriate and professional contact from our clinic. We are satisfied that we did everything possible to work out payment prior to referring a case to collections. Finally, an additional point is that if you have a high number of cases needing to go to collections, I would recommend looking at you pricing and billing procedures, even if it means getting a consultant. Find out the reason why so many are not paying. Even with external factors like a lot of people in your area recently losing jobs or such, you can make business decisions internally that can help. We have always found that getting some money, say in a monthly payment plan, is much better than getting nothing or having to pay 40% of it to a collections agency. Tom Howell, P.T., M.P.T. Howell Physical Therapy Eagle, ID thowell@... This email and any files transmitted with it may contain PRIVILEGED or CONFIDENTIAL information and may be read or used only by the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient of the email or any of its attachments, please be advised that you have received this email in error and that any use, dissemination, distribution, forwarding, printing or copying of this email or any attached files is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please immediately purge it and all attachments and notify the sender by reply email. _____ From: PTManager [mailto:PTManager ] On Behalf Of Elmer Platz Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 9:38 AM To: PTManager Subject: RE: Collections Lydia, Collections are tough! Best way to avoid them is to verify all coverages up-front; without exception. Have a policy on collection of co-pays, etc. and stick to it. Be transparent, consistent and fair in your financial arrangements with clients/patients/customers. The 1099 as a strategy seems 'messy' to me and of questionable value. I'd speak with other local business people and get some solid recommendations on a reputable collection agency in your area. When all else fails, and we try really hard before passing a debt to an outside source for collection, a good collection agency will assist you with any court actions and take care of reporting to credit agencies. I've been satisfied with this approach for over 25 years. Good luck! Elmer Platz, PT From: PTManager@yahoogrou <mailto:PTManager%40yahoogroups.com> ps.com [mailto:PTManager@yahoogrou <mailto:PTManager%40yahoogroups.com> ps.com] On Behalf Of lydia radosevich Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 11:10 AM To: ptmanager@yahoogrou <mailto:ptmanager%40yahoogroups.com> ps.com Subject: Collections Hello, I am looking for suggestions on how you handle patients who won't pay their bill. 1) We had a patient who didn;t pay her premium for her secondary insurance, so of course they won't pay us. Wew have made numerous attempts to get her to pay. Has anyone issued these patients a 1099 for services rendered but not paid. I understand we can do that? Do any of you have a collection agency that actually works? I appreciate your help in this matter. You can e-mail me directly at lydiaproptyahoo (DOT) <mailto:lydiapropt%40yahoo.com> com <mailto:lydiapropt%40yahoo.com> Thanks, Lydia Radosevich,PT New Mexico Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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