Healthcare providers and patients alike face challenges in resolving the patient portion of medical bills. Significant variation between the processes different provider organizations use to resolve accounts is one factor that can create confusion and bog down the process, according to the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
In order to address that problem, HFMA and the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals assembled a task force to identify a common set of best practices for the fair resolution of medical bills. Here are seven key recommendations for healthcare providers from the Medical Debt Collection Task Force.
1. Lay the proper groundwork. Successful account resolution starts at or before the time of service with educating patients about their financial responsibilities, payment options, financial assistance programs and what to expect throughout the account resolution process. The task force advises providers to follow the industry-wide best practices HFMA published last year for improving and standardizing provider communication with patients about financial responsibilities.
2. Make bills patient-friendly. Financial communication should be clear, concise and correct. Patients should be able to quickly determine what to do when they receive a bill.
3. Establish policies and make sure they are followed. Providers should have financial assistance, account resolution and collections policies approved by their boards of directors and followed by all parties that represent them.
4. Coordinate account resolution tasks with business affiliates. At any given time, only one party should be pursuing the resolution of a specific account. Providers need to reconcile their accounts with external business affiliates to avoid duplicate patient contact.
5. Start the resolution process when the first statement is sent. The initial billing to the patient should serve as the starting date for the process to resolve the account, and all time-bound activities should be based on this date.
6. Let credit bureaus know when an account is resolved. Providers that report past due accounts to credit bureaus should be sure to report back if the account is resolved so the consumer isn't unfairly penalized.
7. Track consumer complaints. Track complaints and share them with business affiliates in order to improve customer service, avoid reoccurring issues and speed up account resolution.
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