Rob Morris, vice president of marketing and new business development for GE Capital's CareCredit, discusses 10 simple ways surgery centers can start collecting more money from patients.
1. Be persistent with pre-op phone calls. Mr. Morris says ASCs often fail to collect because a front desk staff member calls the patient at home, leaves a message and never hears back before the day of surgery. Mr. Morris says it is essential that staff members talk to patients about their financial responsibilities prior to surgery, meaning several phone calls may be necessary.
"It can be hard to reach the patient, so the patient shows up and says I don't have the money," he says. "Usually the ASC will still accept the patient because the doctor is coming in half an hour, so they're stuck with that case and they don't collect." During the pre-op phone call, staff members should be clear that the ASC expects to receive payment on the day of surgery — or, failing that, needs the patient to commit to a payment plan while at the surgery center.
2. Get patient contact information from the physician's office. Home phone numbers are useful, but busy patients may be more likely to answer their cell phones or office phones during the day. Similarly, some patients will ignore a call from a phone number they don't recognize but will quickly respond to an email. Mr. Morris recommends contacting the referring physician's office and asking for patient contact information, including a cell phone number, work phone number, email address and home number.
3. Don't let patents ignore your bills. ASC bills may fall lower on a patient's priority list than hospital bills, so ASCs should be especially persistent with collection efforts. "There's always been a struggle because ASCs typically have smaller charges then hospitals," Mr. Morris says. "ASCs get ignored a lot when it comes to payment by patients." Make sure patients understand the importance of paying their bill in full; introduce the expected payment during the pre-op phone call and establish the ASC's policy of collecting within 30 days.
4. Try to collect within 30 days. Once 30 days have passed, Mr. Morris says the likelihood of collecting drops off considerably. "If it goes beyond 30 days, the ASC is going to have a really big problem," he says. He says ASC collection staff should keep a calendar that marks the 30 day deadline for each patient; otherwise, collections can be forgotten until payment is much more unlikely.
5. Set up a payment plan if the patient can't pay. If the patient arrives at the surgery center without a check or credit card to pay their bill, ask if the patient would like to set up a payment plan. Many payment plans can offer patients interest-free financing for six to 12 months, and eligible patients can generally be approved in 10 minutes prior to surgery. Third-party payment plans are almost always preferable to billing the patient, Mr. Morris says.
6. Eliminate other options. If you tell the patient that he can choose to be billed after surgery, he may agree to that option because it seems easier than paying on the spot. Mr. Morris recommends that instead, ASCs talk to patients as if day-of-surgery payment is the only option. "The ASC staff member can say, 'We have to collect today, and since you don't have any means of paying, let's set you up with a payment plan,'" he says. Some patients may still push for post-surgery billing, but it helps if the surgery center does not highlight that option.
7. Ask patients to repeat their financial commitment back to you. Mr. Morris says surgery centers can use a subtle persuasion technique by asking patients to repeat their payment responsibilities back to the staff member. "Get the patient to repeat back to you that they will be putting a check in the mail today," he says. "It's a subtle technique that causes people to follow through with that behavior."
8. Ask for a check the next day. If the patient absolutely cannot pay on the day of service, ask him to bring a check to the surgery center the next day, Mr. Morris says. "You might not even want to suggest billing at that point," he says. "Instead, you can ask them to bring in a check tomorrow or this week, and that sometimes works."
9. Track A/R days by period. Mr. Morris says ASCs should constantly monitor A/R days based on period — that is, 0-30 days, 30-60 days, 60-90 days and 90-120 days. The ASC should prioritize these periods from lowest to highest. In other words, because patients are most likely to pay the ASC if they pay within 30 days, the ASC should concentrate the most effort on this period. The 30-60 day period might warrant a little less attention, and so on until the 90-120 period, at which point collections are unlikely.
10. Decide whether aggressive collections will hurt patient relationships. Physician offices, like other businesses, may be hesitant to pursue patients aggressively if they want to maintain a longstanding relationship with the patient. If the patient feels the office is being too pushy, they may decide to go elsewhere for treatment. However, patient collections in ASCs are slightly different; because many patients are one-time customers at the ASC, surgery centers can be more aggressive with non-paying patients without losing their customer base. Without being rude, surgery center staff members should call patients consistently and consider submitting them to a collections agency once phone calls have proven unsuccessful.
Learn more about CareCredit.
Related Articles on Coding, Billing and Collections:
Medicare Proposes 0.9% ASC Fee Increase Linking Payments to Quality
Colorado Health Agency Loses Records for 3,590 Medical Aid Applicants
New Jersey Man Charged With Failure to Pay $13K Surgery Center Bill
1. Be persistent with pre-op phone calls. Mr. Morris says ASCs often fail to collect because a front desk staff member calls the patient at home, leaves a message and never hears back before the day of surgery. Mr. Morris says it is essential that staff members talk to patients about their financial responsibilities prior to surgery, meaning several phone calls may be necessary.
"It can be hard to reach the patient, so the patient shows up and says I don't have the money," he says. "Usually the ASC will still accept the patient because the doctor is coming in half an hour, so they're stuck with that case and they don't collect." During the pre-op phone call, staff members should be clear that the ASC expects to receive payment on the day of surgery — or, failing that, needs the patient to commit to a payment plan while at the surgery center.
2. Get patient contact information from the physician's office. Home phone numbers are useful, but busy patients may be more likely to answer their cell phones or office phones during the day. Similarly, some patients will ignore a call from a phone number they don't recognize but will quickly respond to an email. Mr. Morris recommends contacting the referring physician's office and asking for patient contact information, including a cell phone number, work phone number, email address and home number.
3. Don't let patents ignore your bills. ASC bills may fall lower on a patient's priority list than hospital bills, so ASCs should be especially persistent with collection efforts. "There's always been a struggle because ASCs typically have smaller charges then hospitals," Mr. Morris says. "ASCs get ignored a lot when it comes to payment by patients." Make sure patients understand the importance of paying their bill in full; introduce the expected payment during the pre-op phone call and establish the ASC's policy of collecting within 30 days.
4. Try to collect within 30 days. Once 30 days have passed, Mr. Morris says the likelihood of collecting drops off considerably. "If it goes beyond 30 days, the ASC is going to have a really big problem," he says. He says ASC collection staff should keep a calendar that marks the 30 day deadline for each patient; otherwise, collections can be forgotten until payment is much more unlikely.
5. Set up a payment plan if the patient can't pay. If the patient arrives at the surgery center without a check or credit card to pay their bill, ask if the patient would like to set up a payment plan. Many payment plans can offer patients interest-free financing for six to 12 months, and eligible patients can generally be approved in 10 minutes prior to surgery. Third-party payment plans are almost always preferable to billing the patient, Mr. Morris says.
6. Eliminate other options. If you tell the patient that he can choose to be billed after surgery, he may agree to that option because it seems easier than paying on the spot. Mr. Morris recommends that instead, ASCs talk to patients as if day-of-surgery payment is the only option. "The ASC staff member can say, 'We have to collect today, and since you don't have any means of paying, let's set you up with a payment plan,'" he says. Some patients may still push for post-surgery billing, but it helps if the surgery center does not highlight that option.
7. Ask patients to repeat their financial commitment back to you. Mr. Morris says surgery centers can use a subtle persuasion technique by asking patients to repeat their payment responsibilities back to the staff member. "Get the patient to repeat back to you that they will be putting a check in the mail today," he says. "It's a subtle technique that causes people to follow through with that behavior."
8. Ask for a check the next day. If the patient absolutely cannot pay on the day of service, ask him to bring a check to the surgery center the next day, Mr. Morris says. "You might not even want to suggest billing at that point," he says. "Instead, you can ask them to bring in a check tomorrow or this week, and that sometimes works."
9. Track A/R days by period. Mr. Morris says ASCs should constantly monitor A/R days based on period — that is, 0-30 days, 30-60 days, 60-90 days and 90-120 days. The ASC should prioritize these periods from lowest to highest. In other words, because patients are most likely to pay the ASC if they pay within 30 days, the ASC should concentrate the most effort on this period. The 30-60 day period might warrant a little less attention, and so on until the 90-120 period, at which point collections are unlikely.
10. Decide whether aggressive collections will hurt patient relationships. Physician offices, like other businesses, may be hesitant to pursue patients aggressively if they want to maintain a longstanding relationship with the patient. If the patient feels the office is being too pushy, they may decide to go elsewhere for treatment. However, patient collections in ASCs are slightly different; because many patients are one-time customers at the ASC, surgery centers can be more aggressive with non-paying patients without losing their customer base. Without being rude, surgery center staff members should call patients consistently and consider submitting them to a collections agency once phone calls have proven unsuccessful.
Learn more about CareCredit.
Related Articles on Coding, Billing and Collections:
Medicare Proposes 0.9% ASC Fee Increase Linking Payments to Quality
Colorado Health Agency Loses Records for 3,590 Medical Aid Applicants
New Jersey Man Charged With Failure to Pay $13K Surgery Center Bill