Executive Credit Management, Inc.
Your Applicant Screening and Debt Collection partners for over 20 years
It doesn’t take much to dramatically increase the results you get from your debt collection agency. Three bits of information could double your returns in Medical Debt Collection.
You first have to find the correct patient before you can even start the medical bills collections process. People move a lot, so every month a few percent of your patients become hard to find.
Social Security Numbers:
Collection and recovery dropped by about half for one of our clients when the Hospital who provides their patient information stopped providing social security numbers. Patients who would have been easy to find previously now disappeared. The problem was fixed and the missing patients were located. Many of them paid their bills. This could not happen without Social Security number identification which is the most accepted proof of identity for the credit industry.
Surname Suffixes
Thses are also a factor in debt collection recovery. Jr., Sr., III and the like can distinguish between relatives living under the same roof. Middle initials often do the same job. If you reach a patient with the correct name but the wrong generation they often know nothing about the bill and are reluctant to help. Others will hide behind this lack of information to avoid speaking to us.
Phone Numbers
Phone numbers are the third way to get more money from debt collection. In an era of cell phones, numbers can change quickly. If additional phone numbers can be provided the patient will be easier to reach. Work numbers, home numbers or the emergency contact numbers provided by Patients are valuable tools. Patients we speak with are much more likely to pay your bill.
Another way this extra information helps is in the Courts. A credit collection agency in New Jersey has to present a Judge with unequivocal identification information. A name with an old address doesn’t always work.
No extra work is required to obtain these superior results. All you need to do is make sure your forms ask for these items of information and your collections will quickly improve. It may not be the ultimate free lunch, but it is a lot for almost nothing.
