Running a business in the medical field inevitably means dealing with overdue invoices. When a patient won’t pay your medical practice for its services, it affects more than just your cash flow. It’s also a drain on your practice’s resources and time. But should you turn over past due accounts to an experienced medical collection agency? It’s a business decision worth considering, and it’s important to start with all of the information. Here are the pros and cons of hiring a professional medical collection agency.
An Experienced Partner
A collection agency that specializes in medical debt, like Hospital Collection Services here in Reno, offers your practice the benefit of distance. When you turn over your outstanding debt to HCS, it means your practice is no longer directly involved, giving you the freedom to turn your focus back where it matters — your patients. A good medical debt collection agency understands how to maximize your return in a manner that’s compliant and respectful of delicate patient relationships.
When your practice makes it a company policy to send unpaid accounts to HCS, you benefit from having an experienced third party stepping in to handle a challenging, often unavoidable reality of doing business. And you can be sure that it’s done in the most professional manner possible.
Greater Odds of Success
Just as your medical practice specializes in its particular niche, so do medical debt collectors. Our team is in the business of recovery specifically within the medical field, and we have access to tools, technologies, and strategies that offer a much greater chance of success. In many instances, even our initial correspondence with a patient who isn’t paying can be motivation enough to make good on what’s owed. If you’re directing time and resources into chasing down patients who are actively avoiding contact, the chances of recovery will vastly improve by bringing in an experienced medical debt collection firm.
Smarter Resource Allocation
It can be helpful to consider what it’s really costing your medical practice to chase down unpaid debt — the staff and time you have to dedicate to composing and mailing letters, making phone calls, and tracking the status of those unpaid accounts. It may be manageable if you’re only dealing with one or two, but it’s usually more than that. In most cases, patients who ignore your initial attempts at correspondence won’t suddenly reach out. It’s far more likely that they’ll continue to be unresponsive, no matter how many letters you send. By passing delinquent accounts to an experienced medical collection firm like HCS, you can return your focus to your practice and leave the debt collecting to the professionals.
Potential Drawbacks
While partnering with a medical collection agency isn’t free, it’s important to understand that money collected via that agency is most likely money you wouldn’t have seen otherwise. It’s also a good idea to be pragmatic about the impact that turning over an unpaid account to collections will have on your practice’s relationship with those patients. While HCS is committed to collecting on your practice’s behalf without damaging the relationship with your patient, it’s difficult to foresee how a patient will react. The truth is that some patients will react poorly to having their account turned over. Still, it’s reassuring to know that HCS will never be anything but professional, compliant, and respectful while collecting on your behalf.
The Biggest Consideration
If your medical practice is dealing with overdue accounts, the biggest decision will be choosing which agency with which to partner. Choosing wisely will increase your chances of success, both in terms of debt recovery and in preserved patient relationships. In northern Nevada, HCS has the experience and expertise to successfully collect on your behalf. Learn more about our medical debt recovery strategies today — contact us today.
