Question

Collecting money from patients can be a daunting task because many people are not comfortable talking about money, especially when they know that they have owed the provider for quite some time. It is important to display sensitivity to the situation when attempting to collect the money that is owed to the provider for services that have been rendered. Both your verbal and nonverbal communication must remain at a professional level, even if the patient’s communication does not. Using the following scenario:

Scenario:

When reviewing the patients who are scheduled for appointments tomorrow you notice that Celia Tapia has an out- standing balance of $125 from charges that were incurred 5 months ago. It is office policy that patients with a balance owed for more than 120 days are not seen until the balance has been paid or payment arrangements have been made.

1. How you would display sensitivity when requesting payment for services rendered.

Answer 1

• In this scenario, hospital authority can take some decisions regarding how to manage these kind of issues.
• They can send a detailed mail to Celia that since 5 months $ 125 has been an outstanding balance to be paid and due to this reason further appointments cannot be done as per the hospital policy.
• Another thing which can be done is make sure whether the client belongs to any low class family with very less income. If it is true then do some arrangements to provide reduction in the money to be paid.
• Explain to them that if the money is not paid within 120 days then further review will not be possible for them.
• Other thing is that the hospital authority can give some more time for them to pay the money in installments if they can and should complete it within the time period provided by the authority.
• And also explain them that still if they didn't pay the balance amount then they might have to seek the help of the court for managing the issue.

Note: It is big issue for the hospital personnel when patients fails to pay the money during their care and hospitalization. But still there are many measures to manage the issues if proper steps are put forward.