POS EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT COLLECTIONS BRUCE SCHELLER, CPAM SOUTH FLORIDA AAHAM – PRESIDENT NATIONAL AAHAM CH. DEVELOPMENT CHAIR APPLE MEDICAL SERVICES – EVP BSCHELLERAPPLE@AOL.COM

CHANGING THE CULTURE OF THE COMMUNITY “NOBODY EVER ASKED ME FOR MONEY”

OBJECTIVES Identifying true F/C Self Pay Medicaid UCC Tracking/Reporting Psychology of Collecting

RESULTS OF A WELL THOUGHT OUT PLAN AND PROCESS Increase ED collections Increase Patient Satisfaction Increase Community Awareness Increase Clinical Participation Reduce Accounts moving to Bad Debt Getting Signatures while patient still in-house

CHAMPION THE CAUSE ADMINISTRATION REGISTRATION/PATIENT ACCESS PFS DEPARTMENT DOCS & NURSES SECURITY VOLUNTEERS WE NEED THE BUY-IN FROM ALL DEPARTMENTS! STRATEGIC AND COORDINATED EFFORT!

KEEP THE VALUE OF YOUR RECEIVABLES

UTILIZING TOOLS AND RESOURCES STAFF TRAINING INSURANCE VERIFICATION DATA SCRUB OF STATE DATABASES HOSPITAL COMPUTER SYSTEM NOTES PATIENT QUESTIONAIRE

TRACKING & COLLECTION REPORTING Number of Patients seen Number of Patients with amounts due Number of Patients with no money due Number of Patients paid Co-pays & Self Pay amounts due Co-pays & Self Pay amounts collected Totals

STAFF COLLECTION LOGS Employee name and date Account number Patient name C/P or S/P Amount due Remarks Amount Collected ED or Medicaid

SCRIPTING & FOLLOW-UP DESIGN PROPER TALK-OFF LETTERS FOR EACH SCENARIO BI-LINGUAL LETTERS BUSINESS CARDS “NOT A FINAL BILL” STAMP DOCUMENTATION ON SYSTEM RECONCILE – Receipts, money, credit cards, logs, notes, etc.

PSYCHOLOGY OF COLLECTING RESPECT COMPASSION UNDERSTANDING COMMONALITY EMPATHY HONESTY FLEXIBILITY CARING

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? 50% of hospital Bad Debt originates from the ED 20% of all ED patients are uninsured Under-Insured population fastest growing segment of those visiting the ED Low-premium/high deductible plans forcing people to gamble with their healthcare Up-front collecting accelerates cash flow and decreases bad debt Resources provide for new ED equipment and increased funding for additional clinical staff

QUESTIONS?