Do you know how much debt your medical collection agency collected last year? If you don't, how can you evaluate their effectiveness or your return?...
Do you know how much debt your medical collection agency collected last year? If you don’t, how can you evaluate their effectiveness or your return? How could you possibly be aware?
Many patient balances forwarded to a medical collection agency are often considered “lost causes,” there would be little point in using such services if that were always the case. Logic dictates this much. Some of the reasons are as follows: Some patients simply do not respond to practice statements or internal collection letters. They will, however, respond when a collection agency states it will report their failure to pay to credit bureaus. Collection agencies have a number of resources on their hands. If reporting a debt to a credit bureau does not work, there are attorneys on hand that can assist you with problem consumers who refuse to pay.
Given that most medical practices acknowledge the need for collection agency services, they should evaluate and manage this collection method just like any other. Practices should have a full understanding of the terms of the agreement with their collection agency and the results of such arrangements; they must also understand how their own internal processes affect the agency’s success. And internal processes do have an enormous effect on the amount of money that you can collect.
Here are six questions you should ask when evaluating your current collection agency.
What is the total dollar value of accounts placed with the collection agency last year?
What is the protocol for turning accounts to collection?
What is the average age of transferred accounts?
What percentage of transferred accounts had balances less than $50?
The government is stepping up as debt collection scams rise. In recent news, Buffalo New York has been home to a number of unlawful debt collection practices, and authorities have arrested at least twelve people. Even though the vast majority of debt collection companies are good for the economy and very much legitimate, there has been a rising amount of deceptive and illegal practices.
In Buffalo, debt collectors have been caught calling up debtors and saying that they are law enforcement. They have threatened to send debtors to prison, or even take child custody away from them. And it doesn’t stop there.
A recent civil case imposed a $675,000 penalty ever imposed on a debt collection business, for illegal and deceptive practices. This includes badgering and lying to consumers, disclosing their debt to third parties, and cashing in on post dated checks early. These tactics were accompanied by deceptive claims from agents saying they were lawyers or other figures of authority.
In addition to refusing to reveal the address or phone number of the “company” these agents even went as far as to call people who were not in any debt at all and attempted to collect money from them. Even though the owners of said companies alleged that it was individual workers acting fraudulently, the Federal Trade Commission went after the business owners and won a case that imposed the biggest penalty ever for debt collection agencies.
To skirt the issue of being a victim to fraudulent collection agencies, it is imperative that you know your rights. A collection company can never seize a debtor’s assets, bank accounts, or paychecks. They can not get a debtor fired from their occupation, and cannot make any kind of public disclosures concerning the debt, and they can definitely never threaten or engage in violent acts.
For further information, consult the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which outlines the regulations and rules of collection agencies.
In Dallas, the North Texas Tollway Authority, an entity responsible for collecting tolls, has been scrutinized for months over its toll collecting policy. This policy charges drivers who do not pay up at the toll booth fines of hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars. Because the NTTA has been under fire in the public eye, it announced today two steps it says that will target improving customer satisfaction.
The first measure that the NTTA took was to allow all drivers to use the electronic toll collection lanes, including those who do not have one. They are able to do this without being punished with a twenty five dollar fine.
Before this plan, drivers without toll tags that utilized the electronic lanes on the Dallas North Tollway were looked at as violators and would subsequently be fined twenty five dollars for each time they passed through an electronic toll booth, rather than a cash booth.
However, after February eighth, the drivers without a toll tag who use the electronic lanes will be given the opportunity to pay off the tolls before being hit with the additional twenty five dollar fine. But these toll charges will continue to be calculated at the cash rate, which is twice as high as the rates paid by toll tag consumers.
Unfortunately, the change won’t affect the NTTA’s collections policy in any other way and it will not stop consumers without toll tags who do not pay toll bills mailed to their homes from being charged twenty five dollars for every unpaid toll. This is a policy that can turn a week’s worth of tolls into a thousand dollar bill.
The NTTA’s second move was to appoint an internal auditor as a sort of mediator, which will be available to frustrated customers who have first complained their way through NTTA customer service hierarchy without a result that satisfied them. The auditor will then review the account and determine if customer service and billing reps have followed their own rules.
Mallory McGuinness works for a agency. Also she does pieceson consumer spending, business and finance, and
