Re: Collection Agency

[Pay_My_Claims]

I agree, I worked accounts but only within the scope of "soft collections" As for charging interest rates, the provider can do that as long as he is within state law, your PM software should have this feature built in. Some states will have you call it "interest" with a max amount and others will have "late fees", etc.
Once the acct was recommended for collections, part of my fee included gathering what the collection agency needed and also weekly/monthly reports. I had a few clients that never even used a collection service, and while for the most part it worked out fine, there were always a few stubborn accounts that should have been sent. Collection services / agencies can do a bit more than the front end billing in regards to skip tracing, credit reporting, etc.
In some states, it's actually illegal to even "ACT" as a collection agency without a bond. At one point in my business I was going to get bonded and get collection software, Back then it would have been advantageous, .. I forget why I dropped the idea. I know finding a good software was costly and the bond back then in my state would have been $10K  I was going to just start off with medical and my billing clients and later if the market proved to be good I would expand.

Linda Walker
PMRNC
www.billerswebsite.com

[Pay_My_Claims]

I have a client in UT. We have hired a collection agency in UT but I am not sure if they are doing their job. It seems that we have turned a lot of accounts to them but very few have been paid. I just want to know if there is a rule of thumb or some national or state statistics out there that I can compare our collection agency's performance against. I don't want to fire them and hire another company only to find they are not any better. What is a reasonable expectation once accounts are turned over to collections? Say 30% of them should be paid etc.?? Thanks for your help in advance

Collection agencies don't work for medical bills!!! Up front collections and proper billing is the best cure. I use an agency that charges a flat fee. Some collection agencies don't even bother to deal with small claims because they don't get enough money off of those claims. I do just as good in the office collecting as most agencies do.

[Steve Verno]

I went through 7 different collection agencies.

I found for medical debt, there isnt much out there to do benchmark tests.  I simply looked at what we turned over and how much was collected.  Many colletion agencies say 155 is a ood national standard and they collect 95%.  Not with medical debt.

I find if they collected at least 5%, they were doing OK.  I also compare each months collectiion.  Now, as a biller, your jb may not be to watch the collection agency as that company is contracted with the provider, NOT YOU!!

I kept an eye on the billing company and debt collection agency because that was my job to do and report to the provider on my findings. My job was also to hire and fire the billing companies and debt collection agency.  If the collection agency did not meet my provider's standard of 5%, then I had a meeting to show monthly statistics.  If they didnt meet those standards, they were terminated and a new one was hired.

Just some freiendly advice:  if you were hired to do billing, keep your nose in the billing. The provider may be watching YOU with your performance.  Keep your nose out of other aspects of the provider's pracitice such as the debt collection agency's progress.  YOu dont want to be sued by the collection agency for interfering with their contract with the provider.  Once the account leaves you, the account belongs to the collection agency and it is out of your hands.  I was in a different situation, my job was to monitor the collection agency.  The billing company also stuck their nose into the collection agncies business. They were terminated when I reviewd them and showed a drop in revenue. They spent their time worrying about the collection agency.  Now they are being sued for loss of revenue to the practice.  Their performance, letters and e-mails are now evidence in court.  The collection agency may also be sueing them for interfering with their contract and loss of income.  Just be careful that the provider doesnt ask you for reports then comes to you, asking why $XXX is so outstanding beyond 120 days, from the VA or from XYZ insurance company and what have you done to get those claims paid, other than requesting interest. 

Again, some friendly advice.