Interview: Jack Nixon of CMRE Financial Services, Inc

Q. How will healthcare collection agencies need to evolve to remain competitive?

A. I believe companies that have exclusively served – or at least had 75 percent of their placements come from – the healthcare industry and its ancillary services should establish other divisions or services.  These divisions should be based on their knowledge of their restrictions or qualifications to serve the healthcare industry.  As “Business Associates,” the provider should look to them for support and education with respect to acquiring more knowledge about the liability, new requirements, and laws that create financial responsibility affecting both parties if they fail to comply.

Q. How, if at all, does HIPAA constrain your operations?

A. We are HIPAA compliant, and have prepared our company to live with these requirements.  If you play by the rules and don’t try to interpret them to suit your needs, you don’t have to be concerned with the effects.  The companies that interpret these requirements to suit themselves make it difficult for those who play by the rules.  Anyone can make a legitimate mistake and be made to pay for it.  It’s those that continue to make mistakes without any effort to control them that create the problems.

Q. What conferences/resources do you find helpful as a small, family agency in order to stay current on healthcare collections?

A. Our company has had memberships in ACA and MDBHA for many years.  As CEO of our company, I have dedicated my loyalty and participation as a board member, past officer, and past president of MDBHA, an organization which is devoted primarily to serving healthcare providers.  Our company receives as many healthcare financial publications as we consider helpful in our education and training process.  We also stay current on proposed laws, both State and Federal, affecting the financial structure of the healthcare industry.