How to Get Paid for Medical Professionals

Providing healthcare is one of society’s critical roles. But, when you’re focused on keeping your patients happy and healthy, it can be hard to stay on top of your clinic’s finances. While Australians are lucky enough to enjoy a robust public healthcare system, many of us still find ourselves paying our own medical expenses from time to time. When a patient doesn’t pay their bills though, following up can be expensive, time-consuming and confronting, especially if their situation requires sensitivity. This can leave you holding bad debts that negatively impact your business.

In this article our debt collection services experts going to discuss a few key tips that can protect your finances and minimise the chances that a patient will fail to pay their debts.

1. Issue Up-Front Quotes

One of the struggles that medical practices encounter is the uncertainty of what treatment will involve. Until you have a patient in your office, there’s no way to know whether they need a simple consultation, add-on procedures or complex assessments.

That uncertainty goes both ways. A patient who is prepared to pay for a consultation may not be expecting additional costs. Providing up-front quotes for further procedures can be all it takes to help patients avoid non-payment of their debts due to bill shock.

2. Provide Training for Front-Facing Staff

Medical treatments can be a sensitive subject, and your staff may be uncomfortable asking patients for money. It’s a good idea to develop systems and provide training that helps your staff navigate difficult financial conversations. Patients recognise that they are required to pay for treatment, and most are willing to pay if given the chance, so teaching staff to have sensitive conversations can prevent bills from going unpaid in the first place.

3. Provide Payment Plans

The cost of some medical procedures can be daunting enough to put patients off seeking treatment. To ensure that doesn’t happen, consider instituting payment plans for people who can’t afford to pay all at once. A simple system that allows patients to pay regular instalments can encourage them to seek care when they need it. Don’t forget to keep your clinic’s revenue streams in mind when developing payment plans. You still need enough cash coming in to cover overheads, so you don’t want to be carrying the debts of too many patients for long periods of time.

4. Offer Finance Packages

Going beyond payment plans, some clinics partner with finance companies to offer credit solutions that cover the cost of medical treatments. Medical finance allows patients to pay for expensive treatments over time. This protects your clinic’s cash flow and it means your business isn’t financially responsible for the cost of the patient’s treatment. 

In most cases, medical finance companies charge little or no interest to patients. This makes paying bills as simple as possible and means your clinic won’t be left holding bad debts.

5. Include the Cost of Debt Collection in Your Trading Terms

While you can provide a range of systems to help patients pay for treatment, some will simply be unable or unwilling to cover the cost. For those times, you may need to refer their debt to a collection agency. A debt collection agency can handle all the legwork of following up with debtors and taking measures to ensure their debts are paid. This frees up your time to focus on caring for your other patients.

The fee structure of debt collection varies depending on the firm, but in most cases you will pay a percentage of the debt as a commission. To avoid the need to pay debt collection fees yourself or sourcing skip tracing debt collection, you may be able to build a clause into your trading terms that requires patients to cover the cost of any debt collection. Talk to your lawyer regarding debt collection legal advice and discuss how to write a binding clause into your trading terms.

Encourage Patients to Pay With Support from Dynamic Commercial Collections

The expense and sensitive nature of medical treatments means that clinics often struggle to recover the money they are owed by patients. As much as you strive to provide a delicate touch when discussing money, your business needs to maintain its cash flow. Developing a relationship with a debt collection agency such as Dynamic Commercial Collections ensures you always have support for pursuing bad debts.