For those of you already working in healthcare collections, or those interested in exploring that market segment, we wanted to draw your attention to this blog post on EndoNurse.com: Advice for Collecting Patient Debt.
Some highlights from the article:
- A recent report from the American Hospital Association found that 87 percent of healthcare providers surveyed reported increased bad debt and charity care as a percent of total gross revenue.
- As a result of the Affordable Care Act, nearly 20 million newly insured patients will enter the healthcare system by 2014.
- A recent report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services puts healthcare bad debt at $49 billion a year.
- Many providers are not yet prepared for an increase in patient financial responsibility; surprisingly, most do not have the ability to collect payment, other than copayment at the time of service.
- Many patients are looking for private, online debt negotiations.
- In the healthcare sector, upwards of 60 percent of patient payments can go uncollected.
