Treating an Unhealthy Accounts Receivable
by Gary Collins, President & CEO, Professional Reimbursement, Inc.
What are the symptoms of an unhealthy accounts receivable? What is your monthly cash receipt-to-net A/R ratio? How low is your DSO? Are you collecting a significant percentage of the patient portion? Most companies these days are so concerned about timely filling issues that they only concentrate on “getting the claims out the door.” They believe that if it’s wrong, it can be fixed later. Whatever happens to the A/R in the “fix it later” bucket? Do you have the adequate resources to fix it? Probably not, if you are like many of the providers I have met over the years. Here are some options to consider for treating an unhealthy accounts receivable.
Option One: Euthanasia
Bad Debt Write-Off…just make the hurt go away
Option Two: The Band-Aid
Hire temporary help from a local staffing firm. When using temporary staffing services you only pay for what you need and you usually only get what you pay for. Provided that you have enough workspace and computers you can hire as many people as you need to blow through the old A/R. They may be able to discern good from bad A/R but the work of actually recovering your payments may fall back on your seasoned employees.
Option Three: Get a Second Opinion
Enlist the services of a consultant to thoroughly analyze your data and provide you with their findings along with recommendations. The condition of the A/R may be due
to one or two payers or a specific therapy or possibly an error in the pre-authorization process. Using these findings you may be able to fix the problem on your own.
Option Four: Refer to a Specialist
Rather than work the older A/R yourself, there are companies that specialize in reconciling your outstanding charges and recovering your payments. This takes the work
off of your staff and allows them to focus on improving your internal billing processes. Outsourcing services will often provide you with useful information to help your staff perform their job better on the front end.
Whatever method you choose, I recommend that you do not allow the unhealthy conditions to persist. It could only get worse. Identify the causes of your aging A/R
and begin lifestyle changes now to make it look youthful again.