If you are considering doing your own medical billing collections, you will need to be informed about a number of Federal and State Laws. Keeping up to date is imperative since laws can change. To ensure you have the necessary information, we have provided a number of useful links below, or if you are considering hiring a Collection Agency, get competing quotes:
Might a Collection Agency Collect More Debt?
Keep in mind that employing staff in a medical office to do your own collections may not be as cost-effective as you might believe. Many times staff are employed to not only work on collections but also a variety of other office tasks. It is very common for calls to insurance companies to result in long hold-times, during which the office staff person may try to accomplish other tasks. If they are otherwise engaged at the time the call is eventually answered, for example with a patient at the window, they must get back in the queue with the insurance company. These interruptions and missed calls can stretch out a simple task into much longer than it should take.
Additionally, the office staff member is likely to be receiving an hourly wage; unlike a dedicated collection or medical billing company where they receive a percentage of the collected balances, the office worker has little incentive to follow up with the more difficult patient accounts. If she collects a reasonable amount, the doctor is satisfied.
Employing a medical billing company or collections agency can free up office staff for other tasks, or even reduce the number of staff needed. And the increased amounts collected may make real dollars and cents for the practice.
Medical Billing Collections Resources
If you do plan to do your own collections, these sites will help you keep in compliance:
Fair Debt Collections Act: This site will give you information about what types of collection procedures you are allowed to utilize by law, as well as information about prohibited medical-billing collection practices.
HIPPA Laws Laws pertaining to safeguarding patient privacy.
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act: The GLBA requires financial institutions to disclose how they will use customer’s non-public personal information. This site gives you information about how to comply with Federal Law pertaining to the GLBA.
