"You Never Call Me Anymore"
New technology is a wonderful thing. It allows our society to become more and more productive. Business offices can now electronically file hundreds of edited claims in the time it used to take to print and mail just one claim.
Unfortunately, there is always a downside to match the upside. One of the technologies making life difficult in the business office is “Caller I.D.” You may know it by a different name, but it is the gizmo that attaches to a telephone and allows the person being called to identify who is calling. You simply look at the electronic display and decide whether or not you want to talk to the person calling.
This technology will hopefully reduce or eliminate obscene and harassing phone calls. That’s the upside. The drawback is that if you’re calling from your business office about the bill owed the hospital or doctor, the debtor may just decide not to answer the phone. This makes it more difficult to contact people who owe you money.
Another technology is the answering machine; sometimes lovingly called the “robot.” You leave a message for the debtor to call, but they don’t. The machine is used to screen incoming calls, just like “Caller ID.”
All of this technology makes life very difficult. Some business offices have given up making calls altogether. Letters are sent, but no other contact is made with the debtor. Is that a good policy? It’s a difficult decision. Are you going to seriously go after the 15% to 20% of you’re A/R which is patient pay? Or are you going to essentially ignore it and concentrate on insurance? Making calls does make the difference.
The person calling should be experienced enough that they aren’t put off by electronic gizmos. They should be calling accounts with balances over a certain amount so they’re not wasting their time trying to contact small balances. If you are willing to invest your time and money in a well-thought-out call program, you will see results! But it’s not easy. Debtors are getting smarter.
A fellow we know who has “Caller ID” looks at the name of the company calling him on the display and when he answers the phone, he answers it with the name of the organization calling. If Memorial Hospital is calling him, he answers “Memorial Hospital”. It immediately throws off the person calling, they hesitate and the call starts out on shaky ground. It is really getting tough out there!
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