Tips That Can Help You Recover Sensitive Debt

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There’s a misconception that hospitals are making money hand over fist during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the contrary, many hospitals are shutting down in the United States due to lack of resources, cancelled elective procedures, overcrowding, and bad debt from patients under financial stress. 

Similarly, dental and veterinarian clinics are also facing challenges in the current economic climate. Running a clinic isn’t cheap. There are many expensive overheads from rent and utilities to salaries, state-of-the-art equipment, and medicine. With shelter-in-place orders affecting revenue, many clinics are teetering on edge. 

That’s why it’s critical for such organizations to improve their debt recovery processes. Here are some tips that can help you recover sensitive debt:

1. Maintain Empathy

It’s a good idea to maintain a professional and firm attitude but don’t lose your empathy. Most debtors are good people who want to pay their dues. If a former patient is unwell, offer payment plans to help them clear their invoices and your organization recover some revenue. 

2. Send Invoices and Reminders

Continue to send invoices and polite reminders about the paint periodically. Some gentle reminders are often enough to collect a sensitive debt.

3. Offer Digital Payments

Your patient may be too far to come and complete payment. Or they have transportation or mobility issues. Checks can often get lost or delayed in the mail. Offer digital payment solutions. Accept online payments from debit cards, credit cards, and even cryptocurrency.

4. Stay on The Line

Stay on the line with a patient if they’re ready to make a payment. You can wait while they send an installment through an online portal. After they’ve paid, ask them what date they’re planning to pay next.

5. Don’t Get Disheartened

Dealing with sensitive debt and the challenges of running a medical facility can be overwhelming during a crisis, but now’s not the time to give up. Whether we like it or not, even with vaccines on the horizon, the novel coronavirus is here to stay with us for a long time. 

While medical practitioners and health care organizations find themselves in a difficult position, they must learn to survive in this new normal. 

6. Outsource Your A/R Cycle

In these challenging times, it may be a good idea to outsource your entire A/R cycle to a team of specialists and ease the pressure on your in-house collection team. Many patients feel anxious when they hear the sentence — medical bill sent to collections — but there are ethical debt collection companies that don’t use unfair tactics to recover your revenue.

An ethical debt collection agency won’t threaten, harass, or humiliate your former patient. Instead, they’ll take a diplomatic approach but treating your patient with dignity and respect. They’ll work with your former patient to find a solution. 

With the assistance of an honourable debt collection agency, you’ll start to generate revenue again without hurting your reputation or upsetting former patients. 

Using a sensitive approach and the right resources, you can find a way to collect a sensitive debt. Feel free to get professional help from an ethical collection firm if you need to.