Creating a Better Early Out Patient Experience

Imagine this. Everything is going great. Your Early Out and Bad Debt are up thanks to your agency partner. But how do you stay Ridiculously Nice? This article will cover a scenario in Early Out and some of the dos and don’ts when it comes to making Early Out work for you.

The Scenario

This was a recent experience that happened to a facility that utilizes Early Out services through an agency. Letters were sent out which told this consumer what they needed to do to keep their account current. It specified that they should call a particular number and they had 30 days to make payment before their account went to collections.

To prevent going to collections, the consumer called the phone number on the letter expecting that they would be able to pay the hospital, but that was not the case. Upon making the call, the consumer felt confused as they were told they were no longer accepting payments at the hospital on these accounts and that the consumer would need to call their Early Out services agency directly.

The consumer was not transferred to the Early Out agency, but was reassured that their account was not in collections. After finding the phone number for Early Out – not what the letter specified as direction to make payment – the consumer was greeted with a recorded message that did not provide an option for Early Out, only for collections.

Now this is not a fault on the Early Out provider. When utilizing Early Out services there should be a seamless transition where the consumer calls the hospital and is automatically redirected to the Early Out agency without their knowledge. A consumer cannot reach Early Out services directly, at least in the case of this consumer.

After trial and error, the consumer tried connecting to a Bad Debt agent even though the facility had said their account was not in collections. Sure enough, the account showed that it was in collections. While the consumer was able to pay their account before it could affect their credit, it was an experience that created many unnecessary hurdles.

This shouldn’t happen. Experiences like this will lead to further confusion for the consumer. You want to have a seamless experience where your business office and Early Out partner are one and the same (as far as your patients can tell). How can you make that happen? Here are a few ideas that can make your office Ridiculously Nice.

• Discuss with your staff so they know what to do when they receive calls like this one
• Have a plan in place to better understand how to transfer these calls
• Work with your Early Out partner to create a seamless process
• Know when your facility or Early Out partner is scheduled to send letters to patients

What Could Go Wrong?

What could go wrong did go wrong. The facility and Early Out agency didn’t have a plan in place, but this doesn’t have to be you! Here are a few dos and don’ts when it comes to providing a Ridiculously Nice Early Out experience.

Do

• Tell them you’ll transfer them over to the accounting department (of your Early Out provider) and let them handle things from there
• Reassure them that their account has not been sent to collections yet

Don’t

• Show signs of confusion
• Tell them the letter is from your Early Out provider
• Tell them they have to call your Early Out provider because the account must be in collections
• Send them to collections before the date that you stated in your final notice statement

The Solution

You can see, simply transferring them over to Americollect Early Out is the easiest way to ensure your facility has the best opportunity to recover before sending your patients to collections. We are happy to work with your business office to make the experience as seamless as possible. Contact us today to find out how!