Practice Management Alert

Informing patients of non-payment consequences is key.

Practices across the country are finding that more and more patients are unable, or unwilling, to pay their bills. That means you need to step up your collections efforts if you're going to collect from your patients who have outstanding balances.

You need to ensure your collection policies are written down and that you inform your patients of the steps your practice will take if they do not pay their bills. Using a final collections letter like this one from Ivonne Atanacio, certified billing and coding specialist for Sports Medicine Orthopeadics Center in Livingston, N.J., can help increase your patient collection success.

This letter is the final collections letter "our office uses to make sure that we are 100 percent covered in the event we need to send the account to collections," Atanacio says. "Patients in our office are very well informed of the consequences if they decided to ignore and not pay the balances owed on their accounts."

Date ___________

Dear ___________,

Our office has made several attempts in contacting you via mail and phone however; we have not received a response back from you.

Our records indicate that there is an outstanding balance due on your account for services rendered (dates) your account balances in the amount of $_______.

According to our records we have not received either a reply to our letter or a remittance to clear this account.

We extended credit to you on your account in good faith and expected payment under our normal thirty day terms which we feel are most reasonable. We also offered a payment plan arrangement in which you did not respond.

Your lack of response has shown little interest in resolving the balance owed on your account

If we do not here from you within 5 business days your account will be forwarded to a collection agency and additional fees as described in the agreement signed will apply as well.

Sincerely,

Account receivables