Hospitals Working to Ease Collection Policies

More and more hospitals are making the pledge not to aggressively take out patients who fall behind on their medical bills. Instead, hospitals are going to try forgoing such drastic tactics as slapping liens on patients’ homes, seizing their bank accounts, and arresting debtors who fail to appear for court hearings for more holistic approaches like financial counseling.

According to a report by the Research Group of Kaulkin Ginsberg Company, the parent company of Kaulkin Media and insideARM.com, "Companies that emphasize more empathetic and patient-friendly collections processes, invest in collector-training programs and integrate legal compliance efforts thoroughly with collection operations turn regulatory compliance into a competitive advantage and are most likely to succeed in this market over time.”

Why the switch to kinder, gentler hospital billing departments? It’s not entirely altruistic. As the report further details, "Aggressive collection tactics can place a health-care provider in jeopardy of alienating both existing patients and prospective customers. Moreover, a negative reputation can severely impact a health-care company’s financial performance."

Towards this image rehabilitation, the American Hospital Association released a set of guidelines in 2003 on hospital billing and collection practices.

The guidelines include communicating more effectively with patients about payment programs, helping patients qualify for existing coverage options, making care more affordable for patients with limited means, and ensuring "fair and balanced billing and collection practices."

"We put out the guidelines after a lot of conversation within the field to reflect where the field stood, and we asked hospitals to take a look at the guidelines and to look at confirmation of those commitments," Alicia Mitchell, spokeswoman for the American Hospital Association, told the Dallas Morning News. "The majority of hospitals have done that."

Such steps make good business sense, and the hospital industry has been sure to convey that message to the debt collectors it hires.

"Over the years, a lot of that has been done by outside companies, so we asked hospitals to take a look at the companies and to make sure that their policies and procedures reflected the mission of the hospital," Mitchell said.