By: Mary Ellen Flynn, Esquire
According to a Forbes article published on October 13, 2021, more than 50% of Americans owe some form of medical debt.
With so many people to pursue, here are three ways we can assist your practice with medical debt collection.
- Ensure that you are following the federal and state rules and regulations when reaching out to debtors to ensure you are not violating the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act was created to protect consumers from harassment, lies, and other unscrupulous means that were once used to collect on outstanding accounts. As such, there are federal mandates and rules that must be followed, including but not limited to when you can communicate with a debtor, notices that must be provided to a debtor and options that must be given to a debtor to pay the debt. We also provide reviews of all contracts and communications to ensure that they continue to be compliant and aligned with the customer service model you prefer.
- While collecting upon unpaid accounts is part of doing business, we understand the importance of preserving and maintaining your established image. We all have seen the publicity nightmares that can occur with destructive customer service issues depicted through social media outlets. Before retaining us, many of our clients don’t pursue the majority of past due accounts merely because they don’t want to have any negative press.
Debtors know that image can make or break your business and make common statements threatening to post reviews and videos on various social media platforms to tarnish your business image. In the medical field, where providing services is your livelihood, we understand the importance of your business image and take the necessary steps and precautions to ensure you are protected—ensuring that all communications contain the required legal notices and that all phone calls are recorded so there can be no doubt what was discussed. Collections has to be done to maintain your business livelihood, but it doesn’t have to be a negative experience for anyone.
- Lastly, we work with you to establish perimeters that make sense when pursuing the debt. Often, our clients have a misconceived notion that because we are a law firm, we immediately will file a lawsuit. We work with you and establish a business flow that makes sense based on the number of past due accounts you have, the amount that is due, the likelihood of collecting, and the cost incurred to pursue in court before we file anything. We believe it is a best practice to make all efforts to collect upon the debt without seeking court interventions and instead work with debtors to allow them to make payments that work and don’t cause a financial burden to them.
All of these steps have given us great success in assisting our clients in reducing their past due accounts while continuing to provide medical services to the community. With our help, medical professionals, hospitals, and medical centers can continue to do what they do best, provide the care the people of the community need and get paid for their services.
Call us today at 301-563-6685 to speak with an attorney about your past due accounts and find out how we can help you.
About Andalman & Flynn Collections: For decades, businesses and professionals have been turning to the experienced collections attorneys at Andalman & Flynn for their debt recovery needs. A licensed collections agency, their experienced team successfully navigates the complex laws surrounding debt collection practices. The firm combines cutting-edge technology with savvy, effective debt resolution methods that result in high success rates and fast recovery times. For more information, please visit www.andalmanflynncollections.com.