It is always a challenge to collect patient balances and deal with patient deductibles, especially at the beginning of the year. Americans, as a whole, think of their health care as free and entitled. The phrase “my insurance will cover it” or “send it to my insurance and then send me a bill” is all too common these days.
Patient are typically responsible for 70-80% of their medical bills and it’s incumbent upon you to have policies and procedures in place to deal with it. Not doing so creates a cash flow and collection problem that diminishes your business and ability to provide exceptional patient care.
This weeks video talks about thoughts and strategies surrounding these concepts.
Crazy enough, the day after I recorded this video, a new patient came to see me for a surgical consultation and refused to pay her copay. She said that no doctor she goes to requires the copay to be paid. After taking a strong position and telling the patient it is a contractual obligation with the insurance company for us to collect the copay and she couldn’t be seen unless she paid it, the patient became combative, called the front desk person a b@#ch and stormed out of the office.
Realistically, I probably avoided having a patient who was going to be difficult to work with and this was a red flag of problems to come.
Make sure you have strategies in place to collect the money that is owed to you, so you aren’t taking discounts on the great care you provide.
Have a great week.
Lowell