Medical Bills Collection Process

Collection process is the process of collecting overdue medical bills from current or
former patients. Patients that do not have health insurance or whose health insurance does not
cover all of their medical bills may be left with pending bills. When the bills become
overdue, the collection process provides steps that the billing officer needs to follow in order
to collect the overdue bills. Both public and private health care organizations follow the
collection process when pursuing unsettled bills from patients. The collection process is a
legally-sanctioned process that protects the rights of both the patient and healthcare
organization. Therefore, it is important to strictly follow its steps. This paper presents a flow
chart of the collection process and an explanation of activities that take place at each step.

Collection Process Flow Chart

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Explanation of the Collections Process

The first step is to send the patient their bill, letting them know that the bill is overdue
and needs to be settled within a specified period of time (Providence, 2018). There will also
be information on how the bill can be settled. For instance, the billing officer could provide
the banking details of the health care organization. The bill is usually sent to the patient via
email.

If the patient does not settle the bill after the first step, the billing offer goes to the
next step in the process which involves calling the patient. The Fair Debt Collection Act
guides the billing office when making the calls (Haan, 2018). For instance, the call should not
be made during odd hours. Additionally, it is important that the caller be decent, respectful,
and polite during the call.

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The third step in the process if the call does not yield the desired results is to send the
patient the first letter. The letter is in effect a demand letter requiring the patient settle their
debt within a specified period of time. The first letter is usually sent to the patient fifteen days
after starting the process. If the patient does not settle to bill within the requested time, a
second demand letter is sent to them. The second letter should be sent to the patient fifteen
days after sending them the first warning letter (Providence, 2018).

If the patient does not settle the bill after receiving the second demand letter, the
billing officer turns over the debt collection to a collection agency. Even though collection
agencies are usually more aggressive than the billing officers in collecting the debt, it is
important that they carry out their work with professionalism. Undue aggressiveness can lead
to destruction of the relationship between the patient and the healthcare organization or may
attract negative publicity for the organization (Providence, 2018). In any case, the collection
agencies are also guided by law in their work. For instance, they can only call the patient
between 8 in the morning and 9 at night. They can also not make more than one call a day or
send the patient more than three messages a day (Providence, 2018).

The last step involves writing off uncollectable accounts. The billing officer takes this
step when it becomes clear that the patient is completely unable or unwilling to settle their
debt and all collection efforts have been exhausted. It also happens when the patient files for
bankruptcy (Providence, 2018). In this step, the debt is written off and becomes bad debt for
the healthcare organization.

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References

Haan, M. D. (2018). Gorsuch’s Purgatory: Attempting to Define Debt Collector under the
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Ga. St. UL Rev., 35, 433.

Providence, A. (2018). Billing and Collection Policy. 6, 17. https://www.providence.net/wp-
content/uploads/sites/80/2019/08/Ascension-Providence-Billing-and-Collection-
Policy-2018-English.pdf