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More Patients Fiscally Solvent?

[By Staff Writers]

First there was the housing and credit crunch for us all, and now there is the bad medical debt expense [BMDE] crunch for the healthcare industry.

As a medical professional, if you are struggling to manage your personal, or practice bad debt load – you’re not alone. But, some of the pain may not be necessary.

The Telagent Study

According to a new study, a good percentage of the self-pay accounts receivable [ARs] write-offs, of hospitals and/or private concierge medical practices could have possibly been collected if those entities tightened their initial financial screening procedures.

The study, which was done by Nashville, TN-based vendor Telagent, analyzed receivables between 90 and 180 days old from January 2007 to January 2008. They drew the records from 40 providers, some of which were existing clients.

Researcher Findings

Researchers found that 30 percent of the self-pay accounts were written off as bad medical debt expenses [BMDEs] because patient’s incomes and net worths weren’t obtained or verified.

However, when Telagent did the research, it found that more than 16 percent of the patients being studied could be classified as having high income and/or high net worth, while another 33 percent had moderate household income or net worth.

And so, Telagent suggested that all of these accounts could have been re-billed or outsourced to collections. Meanwhile, another 17 percent of written-off accounts might have qualified for government assistance or charity care programs, the vendor reported.

Assessment

And so, please contact a credit repair specialist, financial advisor or medical practice management expert if you experience this type of personal, practice or corporate credit crunch. Of course, we always encourage you to seek counsel as lack of retaining same may mitigate against you when pursuing legal patient claims in your court of judiciary venue.

Conclusion

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Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

OUR OTHER PRINT BOOKS AND RELATED INFORMATION SOURCES:

• PRACTICES: www.BusinessofMedicalPractice.com
• HOSPITALS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466558731
• CLINICS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439879900
• ADVISORS: www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.org
• FINANCE: Financial Planning for Physicians and Advisors
• INSURANCE: Risk Management and Insurance Strategies for Physicians and Advisors
• Dictionary of Health Economics and Finance
• Dictionary of Health Information Technology and Security
• Dictionary of Health Insurance and Managed Care

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