Turning Red to Black Blog

In the third installment of our series of blogs written to help revenue cycle managers and billing managers sell third-party debt collection to their management team we will explore information, technology and security to help you address the concerns of your Chief Information Officer and gain their support for your goal.

If you are reading this article you are on the brink of deciding that it's finally time to bring in a third-party collection agency to handle your hardest non-paying accounts. You may be thinking that it’s an uphill battle to get your executives to buy into your idea and you’re wondering how you’re going to get them on board. You know that doing so will help alleviate the pressures on your billing department by allowing them to refocus on your paying patients and consumers and spend less time spinning their wheels on accounts that simply aren’t going to pay without a more nuanced approach.

Perhaps you are a Revenue Cycle Director of a hospital or a billing manager for a physician group. Your department does a solid job with the majority of your accounts but there always seem to be a good portion that just won’t pay. You’re spinning your wheels for 30 days… then 60 days… then 90… There’s just no movement, no arrangements, you may not even have the right phone number. Your team is spending too much time working these non-paying accounts and now your service to the patients who are paying is starting to slip. So you’ve made the decision. It’s time to bring in a third-party collection agency to help with your non-paying accounts, shorten your days in receivables and get your team back to doing what they do best – serving your paying patients and keeping your revenue flowing throughout your organization. But once the determination has been made you must now sell this strategy to your management team.

Choosing when it’s time to start using a debt collection agency can be a hard fought and agonizing decision to make.  Choosing when it’s time to replace a debt collector can be even harder.  That’s why no matter what decision you face today it’s important to get the decision right.  If you’re reading this article you’ve most likely already made the decision to seek help with your delinquent accounts and are looking to shorten your days in receivables and improve your overall revenue cycle.  While you may have a great billing team in place, there are going to be accounts that a billing company will struggle to collect on.  Utilizing a professional debt recovery firm should always improve the collection rate on accounts that are 30, 60, 90 or even 180 days or more past due.  A collection agency is built around collecting these types of debts and should be uniquely qualified to do this work.  But it’s important to know that not all collection agencies are created equal.

As we explained in our blog post, Top Five Things Revenue Cycle Manager Should do to Maximize Their Collection Revenue in the First Quarter, November and December are the most important months to get placement files submitted to Simon’s in order to take advantage of many consumers' willingness to use their tax returns to get caught up on their past due bills.  Getting your placements into Simon’s will get revenue in the door for your organization for the first quarter and throughout the year.  This is especially true because Simon’s also takes its own steps to increase revenue for all of its clients for several months leading into the season while activating a strategic plan during the first part of the year that will run through April.

Some of the highlights of this plan are outlined in the rest of this article.  But please remember, it’s not too late to get your placements in and working for you this tax season! Click this link to be taken to our Client Access Web Online Reporting and Placement Portal: