The healthcare industry has seen its share of mergers and acquisitions over the last few years which has affected in large scale the way the medical field looks and conducts business. Likewise, the changing landscape of the collection industry is producing larger regional and national companies that have survived an industry-wide M&A wave as well as the tightening of rules and regulations by increasing their investments in compliance, infrastructure, technology, analytics, training of staff and process improvement. As this process continues, smaller, localized “mom and pops,” and even some medium-sized regional agencies, have had trouble competing with these leaner, more diversified operations.
Many times a leaner agency, like Simon’s, can provide a better rate to clients and collect on a higher percentage of accounts. As such, when choosing an agency to help with your recovery efforts, it’s important to look beyond your own local horizons. While engaging with a local company supports your local economy and perhaps the employees and charities that a local company works with, it’s important to recognize this is but a small part of a much bigger picture. In fact the “buy local” movement has a much greater multiplier effect with regard to purchases made at local independent stores where goods are sold. It’s much more effective to increase your own employee compensation or your own charitable contributions and one way to fund that is to find a way to increase your revenue.
While a local company may provide effective support to your community, your direct support is much more valuable. So by what degree does the community actually receive support from your combined efforts? Chances are as a health organization, your support is equal to, if not greater than that of a local or regional agency. So what if you could increase your recovery rate and increase the amount of money you receive from those recoveries? Wouldn’t that help to increase your charitable contributions, not to mention the un-compensated care you give away every year? Wouldn’t this simple shift in your revenue cycle management work to cover any loss to the community that it might have received from this local company? Might it actually work to increase the total support your community receives? Isn’t it time to allow your RCM bidding to include the best agencies and not just the local ones?
Simon’s works hard to support many organizations in Central New York which still aligns with the ideology of giving back to people in American communities. From computer donations to local schools, cash donations to Meals on Wheels, sponsorships of local Pop Warner and Little League teams, volunteer hours spent with the Red Cross, Centerstate CEO Ambassadors and Toys for Tots, Simon’s endeavors to help it’s community just like your organization helps your own community. Certainly Simon’s tries to work with local companies and is proud to do so in order to support our own “Buy Local” efforts and community improvement programs but with some services it has had to look outside its local and regional borders in order to work with the businesses that offer the best of services we need. In doing so we are able to increase our profit and likewise increase the amount of money we can donate to local community organizations, not to mention the fact that it has allowed us to stay competitive while increasing our ability to outperform our competition!
When it comes to debt recovery isn’t it important to ask the questions that are most relevant to increasing your recovery rate rather than how much that company does for your own local community? Isn’t it more important to look at recovery rate, compliance, bedside manner and the tools and technologies that set one agency apart from another? Doesn’t the longevity of a business matter as much as what it can do for your community? Wouldn’t an agency that has been in business for fifty years help your community by putting more funds back into your pockets more so than an agency that produces half of the recovery for you or charges you twice as much? Wouldn’t the change in your recovery rate alone negate any loss that your community may feel? Wouldn’t your community feel the trickledown effect from your increased profits?
Perhaps the thought has also occurred that a local agency would be able to communicate with your local clientele better than a company that hasn’t “grown up” in your region. While this may be true in theory, chances are that many people now residing in your region didn’t grow up there either. In fact, according to the Census Bureau, only “fifty-nine percent of people in the United States were born in their state of residence.” Additionally by 2044 the United States will be in a “no racial majority scenario” much like many of our large cities today. So, while a local touch is certainly nice, diversity is even better. In this day-in-age, people move more often than they used to and many families will settle where their skillsets are rewarded the best. So it may seem that hiring people with local knowledge is best practice but the truth is that hiring a company with great diversity is a smarter move when it comes to communicating with a diverse and ever-changing demographic. Simon’s employs people from all walks of life which includes a multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-racial workforce that comes from all over the United States and her territories including the Virgin Islands, the deep South, Texas, the Midwest, Pacific Northwest, Southern California and of course the Northeast. This kind of diversity allows us to communicate with clients and debtors from anywhere in the United States, from any socio-economic level, and in a multitude of languages.
At the end of the day the decision should be simple. Which agency is best suited to your needs? Which agency can you trust? Which agency will put the most money in your pocket?
5 Reasons Why Choosing a Local Agency Isn’t as Good as Choosing the Best Agency:
1. Agencies that are doing well are those investing in compliance and technology while strategically growing their workforce.
As M&A waves and the tightening of rules and regulations has begun to thin out the ranks among agencies, those that are surviving and thriving are those that are increasing their investments in compliance, infrastructure, technology, analytics, training of staff and process improvement. This rarely happens on a local scale.
2. Leaner and more technologically savvy agencies are able to offer their clients a better rate with a greater recovery percentage.
In other words, the best agencies, regardless of geography, are going to put more money in your pocket faster than anyone else.
3. More money in your pocket means more money you will spend in your community.
While a local company may provide effective support to your community, your direct support is much more valuable. In most cases an increase in your revenue will allow you to increase your community investment (through employee compensation and charity) which will replace, and in many cases, out-pace any perceived loss the community feels from another business.
4. Regardless of geography an agency can still align to your ideology.
Just because their charitable work isn’t necessarily being done in your neck of the woods doesn’t mean that they don’t still do the things that you appreciate as a company and that your company may do for your community. It’s much more important to align on ideology than geography. After all, the neediest of Americans are still being cared for by both organizations!
5. Diversity outweighs the “local touch.”
According to the Census Bureau forty-one percent of Americans no longer reside in their state of birth and the country itself is headed toward a “no racial majority scenario” by the midpoint of the century. The “melting pot” has indeed created a nation of blurred ethnic and racial lines that trump geography on a regular basis and will continue to do so for at least the next 30 years.
