"A Bloody Damn Mess"
On the way to the airport, the taxi driver was talking about the $350,000 house in Florida he had recently lost to the bank. He said his wife was very upset but he was handling it a lot better.
The passenger said, “that still must be pretty hard to take?”
The driver shook his head, “you cannot fix nothing’ in the rearview mirror.”
Great attitude: don’t fret, get on with life!
Hospitals and Physicians are struggling with a lot of stuff in their rearview mirrors: outdated policies and procedures, antiquated systems that can’t bill correctly, unenthusiastic employees beaten down by receivables backlogs.
We’re currently seeing a lot of “bite the bullet” situations. Administrators, CFO’s and Directors realize the receivables figures on their Balance Sheets don’t necessarily reflect the true value of their accounts.
One of our managers received a call from a CFO who had been referred by a client. Frustrated he talked about his receivables: “It’s a bloody damn mess, and you can quote me on it.”
As accounts age, their value is quickly evaporating. The longer they sit, the faster they are losing value.
A new Administrator pointed to the patient pay figure in the column marked “181 days and over “ on his ATB. He said he needed to tell his Board realistically how many cents on the dollar that figure represented. He felt that he was still in a honeymoon period and he might as well get all the bad news out of the way. When the figure of 5 to 10 cents on the dollar was offered, he sighed and shook his head. He hoped they didn’t kill the messenger.
These are difficult times for all providers. Biting the bullet can be hazardous to your health. This is especially ironic in an industry that stresses preventive health maintenance.
The cab driver knew what he was talking about. If your receivables backlog has got you focused on the rearview mirror, there’s no way you can move forward without having a big accident.
We’re here to help you digest that bullet.
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