FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Getting Medical Facilities Out Of The Collection Business

Sugar Land, Texas (PRWEB) April 12, 2004 – There is hope for the many medical care providers dealing with an alarming increase in unpaid insurance co-payments. With increasing unpaid balances, additional collection staff seldom offsets their losses and much of the debt is simply written off or given to outside collection agencies that return only a small percentage of the balance. Most medical care providers will admit that they don’t want to be in the collection business and they’re not very good at it. Today, a new third-party relationship with patients reduces the risk for self-pay balances at no cost to the provider and improves cash flow by making a significant portion of their account balances available to them.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “In 2003, premiums for job-based health benefits rose by 13.9%. This is the third consecutive year of double-digit premium increases, and a higher rate of growth than any year since 1990. Premium increases in 2003 exceeded the overall rate of inflation by nearly 12 percent age points.”

We all understand that the cost of medical care is rising at an alarming rate. No one understands this better than the insurance companies who are forced to pass on these cost increases to their policy holders in the form of increased premiums. As companies across the country deal with the burden of increased premiums for employee medical coverage, coverage benefits are often reduced while individual co-pay deductibles increase.

A large portion of the burden for increasing medical costs is shifting to individuals who seek medical care. Reduced benefits and increasing individual co-pay deductibles place a higher burden on policy holders who already face a significant loss of disposable income due to higher premiums.

Today’s medical care providers are facing an alarming increase in the amount of unpaid insurance co-payments. Costs increase while revenues decline. The losses are adequate in many cases to threaten the existence of their business but their options are few and often unacceptable. Many providers hire expensive collection staff to extract payments from their patients only to discover that collection percentages are too low to justify salaries. Other providers pass their debt to collection agencies that return only a small percentage of their outstanding debt. In frustration, some providers simply write off the debt and attempt to survive by reducing the cost of patient care.

In the process of collecting unpaid insurance co-payments, many medical care providers ruin or permanently strain valuable relationships with their patients. Patients often complain that they did not fully understand what was expected of them and were suddenly presented with a bill they did not expect and cannot pay. Combined with lost income, the loss of patients and goodwill often creates a downward spiral from which the business cannot recover.

Necessity provides the answer for many medical care providers in the form of a new third-party patient relationship that maximizes cash flow for the business at no additional cost. This entity integrates with any US medical care provider’s accounts receivable process by professionally managing the risk for self-pay balances.

When a patient enters the waiting room or admissions office, they are presented with documentation that fully explains the relationship. They understand that a third-party manages accounts receivable for this care provider, exactly what their payment obligations will be, and which payment options can be available to them. The patient enters into a contractual relationship with the third-party provider before treatment is provided. In the event that the patient cannot discharge the full amount, payment options are provided to handle the debt over time.

Information is pulled from the provider’s accounts receivable software and evaluated on a regular basis. As a result, a significant portion of their approved self-pay balance becomes available to the business immediately. Paid balances are delivered within a few days. The result is a manageable cash flow for the business with no collection costs or increased manpower.

Just as important as improved cash flow is the fact that collections are professionally handled by a third-party with little or no impact on the relationship between the care provider and the patient. This results in an improved patient retention rate that allows the business to grow as it should.

Any health care provider in the United States can benefit from this new offering.

Additional information can be found at http://www.minermiraclesltd.com/financing.htm

About Miner Miracles LTD
MML supplies turnkey digital diagnostic imaging management: teleradiology, RIS integration, digitizers, diagnostic workstations, PACS and VPACS™ archival. The company also manages the largest teleradiology network of its kind, the Lone Star VPACS™ Teleradiology Network, providing network monitoring, maintenance and 24/7 help desk operations to hospitals, clinics and imaging centers.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Ms. Deborah Miner
Miner Miracles LTD
281.494.6644 tel
281.494.2224 fax
http://www.minermiraclesLTD.com
dminer@MinerMiraclesLTD.com