New Collection Strategy Helps Hospitals Convert Bad Debt Into Revenue

FAIRFIELD, N.J. — As the recession continues to affect virtually every industry, healthcare is one sector feeling it the most. Hospitals and medical practices across the country have watched as unpaid patient bills, or “bad debt,” reach record-setting levels. This predicament has the entire industry in crisis, especially as healthcare organizations face additional challenges like rising operational costs and declining revenues. Lauren A. Irwin-Szostak, an expert in consumer debt collection and the president of Business Processes Redefined, has a plan that uses intelligent design to help hospitals turn that bad debt into found revenue — and significantly improve overall financial performance.

Instead of managing a company’s entire pool of delinquent accounts as one entity, Business Processes Redefined looks at common segments of accounts to extract business insights that will help increase returns. “Our approach uses advanced financial models to analyze the accounts and find similarities like age of debt, demographic information, and the patient’s credit history,” says Ms. Irwin-Szostak. “Then we can match each strategic account segment to one of our partner agencies with specialized expertise in collecting debt with those particular characteristics.”

The Business Process Redefined approach offers multiple, concrete benefits over other collection strategies. Medical providers get specialized collections support for each account, which can generate higher returns and lower net collection costs. That is a significant difference compared to options like managing collections internally, hiring a multi-purpose collection agency, or even selling the bad debt. According to Ms. Irwin-Szostak, “Handling collections in-house can be very costly and it diverts valuable resources away from patient care, the core function of a hospital. By using a turnkey expert for collection services, the healthcare provider can enjoy higher returns.”

With U.S. hospitals now carrying a staggering $40 billion in unpaid bills each year, it has become painfully clear that a new approach is necessary. Ms. Irwin-Szostak adds, “The way things stand right now, the old ways of collecting unpaid bills simply aren’t working, especially as more consumers put paying their mortgages and car loans ahead of their medical fees. Now’s the time to change the model.”

About Business Processes Redefined (BPR)
BPR is a receivables management firm that provides turnkey solutions to companies with delinquent consumer and commercial accounts. Working with a proprietary network of the best independent collection agencies in the country, BPR executes a highly analytical, results-oriented approach to collections. Drawing on decades of experience represented by the firm’s leadership team, BPR monitors and manages the recovery process from start to finish, always ensuring strict compliance with the laws that govern the collection industry and the highest ethical standards in the business.

For more information, call (800) 470-6622 or visit http://www.bprllc.com