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GEN: Collections--longFrom: Garry E. Siegel, M.D. (garrys@mindspring.com)Wed Mar 30 18:57:31 2005
Our practice is a 3 MD, 3 CNM, 2 office one. As patients have balances that are unpaid (pregnancy, hospital consults, surgery, etc.), our insurance people call/write/send letters, etc. Eventually, if the balance is significant and unpaid, the patients get turned over to a collection agency. One of the older (70's)docs in town, who now is solo, told me once he calls the patients hmself about their overdue balance. That said, a patient/husband having their 4th child, first in our practice, was a VBAC (prior successful VBAC twice) and became an insulin requiring diabetic, and needed ultrasounds, NSTs, etc. As it turns out, the husband was a young attorney in practice a few years, and they were a delightful couple. He was between insurance companies, so they were cash patients, and he bartered/lobied for a much reduced bill, since the extra services (scans, NSTs, VBAC, etc.) weren't insignificant. She delivered in January, hasn't come back for a PP visit, and they have around a $1000 balance and have issued a check for $500 which bounced. Because the husband, my partner and I worked out an amicable arrangement, when I found out about the bounced check and overdue balance, I was quite upset. Well, long story short, as opposed to having my staff call, I simply picked up the phone and called him, expected voice mail. He took the call and said he would pay 1/2 now, and 1/2 in a month. I related my story to a relative who had a retail store for years, and he said he thought it was not at all crazy for me to actually call the overdue people who have significant balances, as opposed to all of the machinations that can be time consuming and dead ends. What do you guys do? Garry
-- Garry E. Siegel, M.D. Private Practice Roswell, GA
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