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Tag Archives: Dental
What would you do if your patient data was stolen or a fire or flood destroyed your office? Suppose one of your employees opened a malicious e-mail and your patient data was encrypted and held for ransom? I know this sounds absurd, but just Google “data for ransom”. What would be your first step? With most medical records being stored digitally, it’s not a matter of if you’ll experience an incident regarding your electronic patient information; it’s a matter of when.
Medical and Dental Practices, What Would You Do?
7 JanWhat would you do if your patient data was stolen or a fire or flood destroyed your office? Suppose one of your employees opened a malicious e-mail and your patient data was encrypted and held for ransom? I know this sounds absurd, but just Google “data for ransom”. What would be your first step? With most medical records being stored digitally, it’s not a matter of if you’ll experience an incident regarding your electronic patient information; it’s a matter of when.Technology is moving so fast in every industry, but in the medical industry, technology advancements are leading to more and more protected health information (PHI) theft and data breaches. Patient information is not being properly protected. As you are well aware, protecting your patient’s confidential information is the law. Computers, laptops, e-mail, mobile devices, and thumb drives, all store and send ePHI. Without the proper controls in place, your patient information can easily fall into the wrong hands, exposing your OMS practice to large governmental fines, and reputational risk.
HIPAA just announced that they will be conducting random audits starting in 2016. Their pilot audit program revealed that many small to mid – size medical practices are not taking the necessary steps to protect their patient information and are not complying with even the basic HIPAA Security and Privacy Laws. The HIPAA Security Rule now mandates that every practice take an annual risk assessment. The government also strengthened its ability to enforce the law in medical practices with fines reaching up to $50,000 per violation with a maximum $1.5 million annual penalty. This is why Cash Flow Strategies is recommending PCIHIPAA, as a dedicated source for protecting your practice.
Cash Flow Strategies has many of our clients participating in their Compliance Program. They have agreed to provide a complimentary HIPAA Risk Assessment (a $599 value). You can take the Risk Assessment online and immediately receive your risk score with no further obligation. I encourage you to take 5 to 10 minutes as soon as possible to complete the Risk Assessment by clicking here. You’ll receive a 23- page Risk Analysis, and a 30-minute consultation that you can also schedule online.
Just click here to start your Risk Assessment. It will be a great way to start your practice off on the right track in 2016.
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INSURANCE MONEY WON’T PAY YOUR BILLS ANYMORE, DOC!
16 JunI was told today by a doctor that he refrains from pushing too hard to collect from a patient who owes him money, because of all the money he makes on the patient from insurance companies. He is willing to write off patient balances, to keep making insurance money from the patient visits, and doesn’t want to offend the patient into leaving the practice by insisting he pay his bill.
This is the general attitude many doctors had 25-30 years ago. It may have had some validity back them but times have changed! Insurance money alone will not keep your doors open and your lights on any more doc. You are putting your practice in jeopardy by not seeing what is happening around you!
High deductible health plans are the norm these days, and co-insurance is rising all the time. Despite what the government tells us, there are more and more patients who do not have insurance, or have adequate insurance. Self pay is now the highest payer in the medical world behind Medicare and Medicaid, and it is catching up fast. According to recent statistics, patient balances now represent over 35% of a doctors income and soon, if major changes aren’t made, will be over 50%.
You can’t wish it away, or ignore it away. You MUST find a way to motivate patients to pay you, and pay you faster than before.
Medicine, whether you like or not, or understand it or not, is a business. You are trading a service for money, and the patient knows it. They also know when you are leaving them alone about their bill so that you can continue to collect insurance money. Not only do they know, but guess who they tell? EVERYBODY!!! And guess what happens? You get all the patients who don’t want to pay their bills. Great! Until, that is, until you watch your patient A/R go through the roof. By the time you see this happen, you are already in trouble.
Don’t waste time. There are automated tools to help your practice both maintain your good relationships with your patients, AND get them to pay you their portion of the bill sooner. Call me today at 888-780-1333 and I will tell you about them. Isn’t it worth 20-30 minutes of your time to keep the lights on in your practice over the long haul?
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Is It Time To Dismount?
5 MayMy father was a wise man. He used to tell me, “If you find out that your horse has died, it is a good idea to dismount.”
I’ve found, in my experience, that many medical and dental practices are riding a dead horse, and it is definitely time to dismount.
How many things in your practice are being done the same way they were 20 years ago? 10 years? 5 years? If you are like most practices, your answer will be “nothing!” But, if you think about it, the one thing that is being done the same way it has been for a long time is the way you collect money from patients and insurance companies that owe you money.
Sending a monthly statement, and calling (when you get the time to do so) does not work any more to motivate your slow pay and delinquent patients to pay your bill. Calling, waiting on hold, and nagging insurance companies doesn’t get you paid on time either. And do you have any idea how much having employees on hold that long will cost you in a month?
Over the years, we have determined that there are four distinct types of patient payers. Each one requires a different approach to motivate them to pay you, and it is a mistake to treat all of them the same. It is hard, if not impossible, for you to determine which is which quickly and inexpensively in-house.
We have also found a much more economical and effective way to motivate the insurance companies who are dragging their feet, making excuses, and ignoring your calls to get you paid faster.
Transworld Systems can help you update and automate your A/R processes for both insurance and patients. The cost will normally be less than what you are paying now to do what you do in-house, and the results will be MUCH better than riding a “dead horse.”
Contact David Wiener at 888-780-1333 or email me at david.wiener@transworldsystems.com
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Medical and Dental Practices: Is insurance follow-up eating up your staff time?
11 FebInsurance companies have a vested interest in paying your practice as slowly as possible. They will delay, deny, and “on-hold” you to death just to keep your money a few days longer and earn interest on that money.
Living “on-hold” with insurance companies seems to be a way of life for some of your office staff, as clerks search forever for claim information. Sitting and waiting while they look up claims is costing you big time, not just in employee salaries, but also in lost productive time.
What if there was a highly effective, inexpensive way to motivate insurance companies to contact you regarding those claims? What if you didn’t have to waste the time of your employees “on-hold?” What if you could get an answer or your money more quickly?
Transworld Systems, a sponsored program with the AMA, a Preferred Vendor with the MGMA, and the largest collector of medical debt in the US, has a unique Insurance Resolution service that you can use to make these things a reality. For a low flat fee per claim, you can have them contact the insurance companies for you. When the insurance companies are contacted by a third party such as Transworld Systems, they will treat the inquiry with much higher priority than they will when they are contacted by your practice or a hospital. When receiving a third party inquiry, they are required to escalate the inquiry to a supervisor, and then have the supervisor contact your practice to resolve the claim.
It’s quick, it’s inexpensive, and it’s easy. And best of all, you can have your “on-hold” person spend their time on something less frustrating and more profitable for your practice.
It is just one of a whole suite of services that Transworld Systems can provide for your practice to help you get paid faster by both patients and insurance companies. Contact me for a free 30 minute demonstration of their services and a no-obligation analysis of your Accounts Receivable. Call me at 888-780-1333, or email me at davidhwiener@gmail.com.
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A Warning You Need to Read: Don’t Believe in Something For Nothing!
14 JanMany businesses have been told by their collection agency that they can provide free collections to them simply by adding the percentage fee onto the debtor’s balance as “the cost of collections” In other words, promising prospective customers “something for nothing.” With the high cost of collection agencies, this is a very tempting offer for a business who needs to collect their money and hesitates at paying an agency their typical 30-50% fee for collecting.
DON’T BELIEVE IT!!
First of all, the match doesn’t work anyway. If the fee is 50% and the agency or the client adds the 50% back into the bill before it is collected, the client will only receive 50% of the new balance, which is not the full amount (only 75% of the original bill)
More importantly than that, the agency is tempting you to violate Federal Laws against usury. The agency is setting themselves, AND POTENTIALLY YOU, up for a law suit and stiff fines and penalties. Even if you put a statement to that effect into your financial policy, you may not charge these percentages to recoup your collection fees.
Please take a moment to read this article, copied from the ACA International (American Collector’s Association) website about a recent court case against such an unscrupulous agency.
Court Rules Against Collecting Percentage-Based Fees
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that charging consumers a percentage
of their account balance as a collection fee is a violation of the FDCPA unless
the consumer explicitly agreed to pay a percentage-based fee.
In a Jan. 2, 2014, ruling, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals found that a collection
agency may not collect a fee based on a percentage of the account balance if the
original contract between the consumer and creditor did not specify the consumer
would be responsible for a percentage-based fee.
In the case, Bradley v. Franklin Collection Service Inc., the consumer plaintiff had
signed a patient agreement when receiving medical treatment that stated, “In the
event of nonpayment… I agree to pay all costs of collection, including a reasonable
attorney’s fee…” The creditor subsequently added a 33-1/3 percent fee (reflecting
the contractually agreed upon fee between the creditor and the collection agency)
before forwarding the account to the collection agency.
The court ruled that the plaintiff, “agreed to pay the actual costs of collection; his
contractual agreement with [creditor] did not require him to pay a collection agency’s
percentage-based fee where that fee did not correlate to the costs of collection.”
The court found that the percentage-based fee, assessed before the collection
agency’s attempt to collect, was not related to the agency’s actual cost of collection,
thus breaching the agreement between the consumer and the creditor. Therefore,
the court held that the collection agency violated the FDCPA by collecting the 33-1/3
percent fee when the consumer only agreed to pay the actual costs of collection.
© 2014 ACA International
In other cases, medical practices, along with the agency, were charged under racketeering laws for the very same offense. The fines and penalties that they were required to pay were astronomical.
Please, let me show you a way to avoid the percentages charged by these collection agencies, without running afoul of the law, and while collecting more money than they do in the process.
Respond to me through the form below and I will rush you the information on how to avoid these kinds of unscrupulous methods and still collect more of your hard earned money.
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Diagnosing Practice Fraud – Astinel Security & Forensics
25 NovThis is an exceptional article written by a friend and recognized expert in dental practice fraud prevention and investigation.
I have, unfortunately, been called in to consult with medical and dental practices who have been embezzled by staff. It is much more difficult to react after the fact than it is to use “preventative medicine” and prevent these horrible things from happening.
Zane, and his company, Astinel Security & Forensics, would be my recommendation to you and your practice to prevent practice fraud.
Diagnosing Practice Fraud – Astinel Security & Forensics.
Please feel free to contact me using the form below if I can be of any assistance to your practice.
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Dental A/R and Collections
3 Oct
Many dental practices are faced with outstanding bills and the issue of collecting on past due payments while trying to maintain patient relationships. There is a solution for you and your dental practice when it comes to recovering past due payments!
Transworld Systems has been helping dental practices and other offices since 1970 with the recovery of slow and past due payments from both patients and insurance companies! Contact me today to find out how we can help you start the road to faster cash flow!
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Tools To Help You Get Paid Faster
6 Sep
Are you having a hard time finding the time to contact your customers or patients regarding payments? Let Transworld Systems help you Accelerate your payments and improve your cash flow with Accelerator.
The below infographic illustrates the benefits of Accelerator and how we can help you get paid faster! Don’t wait until 60, 90 or 120 days for you outstanding invoices. The sooner you react, the sooner you can get paid the money you are owed!
Call me, David, directly at 888-780-1333 for a free overview of the tools that can help you motivate your customers and patients to pay you sooner, while maintaining your good relationship with them.
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The Importance of Cash Flow
5 Sep
Cash flow is the life blood of businesses and there are many businesses and practices that have cash flow problems. Since 1970 Transworld Systems has been working with small and medium sized businesses and practices to improve their accounts receivable and increase their cash flow!
Transworld Systems can improve your accounts receivable and increase cash flow with Accelerator by recovering your money faster! Contact me today to learn more about how we can help you!
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