When it comes to collections, your primary goal is always to recover as much as possible. After all, your bottom line depends on actually getting paid for your healthcare provider services and expertise. Self-pay collections are a great tool for you to take a proactive approach to achieve superior recovery while giving your patients agency to pay off their debt at a reasonable pace.
What are self-pay collections?
Self-pay collections are collections plans that allow your patients to determine their own payment plan and pay at their own pace. This poses an obvious risk for you as a healthcare practice if your patients are not able, willing, or proactive about fully paying their bills. In fact, there is historical data that suggests that self-pay collections have a reduced recovery rate and may not ever be fully repaid if they are stretched over a long period of time.
However, self-pay collections aren’t necessarily a bad idea. They just need to be optimized for you to take full advantage of the benefits they provide.
Why is it good for patients?
By allowing your patients to self-pay their bills, you are showing your trust in them as a patient and respecting them as their provider. This gives your patients flexibility and allows those who have different income levels to pay you back on a timeline that works for them.
Here are two great ways you can optimize self-pay collections.
1. Provide your patients with online access to their medical bills.
Transparency is such an important piece of self-pay collections. Engaging with your patients early on in the revenue cycle while providing them with online access to their bills, visibility into what their insurance covers and does not cover, and having easy access to set up recurring payments will improve your recovery.
2. Offer excellent customer service.
Make sure that your staff or a healthcare collections agency is available to provide customer service. They should be able to get their questions answered in a timely manner and feel like they are being treated with the same kindness, respect, and empathy that they receive when actually receiving care.
For more information on how to optimize collections, contact Frost-Arnett at (615) 259-6271. We have over 125 years of experience in the healthcare collections industry! We pride ourselves in our ability to connect with professionals’ patients while maximizing recovery.