Published Friday, February 10, 2023 by Alan Holdren

The question is asked frequently by office managers and concerned doctors from time to time “What can we do to help our collections?” Well there are several answers to this question that should be covered:

A) Any and all information that you can get. Assume you are making a loan, because in a sense you actually are. Credit is actually being extended to each patient until either, they pay you for the services rendered or the Insurance Company pays you for the services rendered. The base information you should gather for collections purposes is:

Name, Address, Ph No, SSN and Place of Employment.

B) All pertinent Insurance information and medical information required for treatment.

Probably one of the most important controversial areas we run into is with the handling of cases where the patient is a minor and is brought in by a non-support paying parent or other adult for treatment. Several issues come into play here. I am of the opinion and Atlas works on the basis that both parents are responsible for the minor’s medical bills and if an adult other than the parents take the minor to an office and signs as a responsible party for the minor that they also can be help responsible for the debt. This creates an interesting and challenging scenario with a neighbor or friend, but the rules are what they are.

Trying to no be hard nosed all the time, it will be up to the medical office to instruct the collection group as to what they wish to happen. We prefer to have all options open even though some of our clients prefer a softer approach, which many times is the best play letting a non-family party off the hook. Finances usually dictate the amount ofleniency extended at various times of the practice.

We encourage yearly updating of the information as some have moved to a per visit update as job change is occurring so rapidly in many areas.

The Motto: Quality Info In + High Recoveries, is true!