Credit Guide

By: Joel Walsh

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Medical collections are costing doctors millions. Here are the secrets of why patients don't always pay their bills, from a real-life deadbeat.

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Credit Union With medical collections costing doctors millions upon millions of dollars in unpaid bills and collection fees, many people have just one question: Who are these people who are trying to stiff the doctors who delivered them from great physical pain (or the flu, hypochondria, not-so-white-teeth, or a nose that didn't look enough like Brad Pitt's)?

(k) We may use credit reference agencies to help us make credit decisions or for fraud protection. You agree that we may register information about you and the conduct of your account with any credit reference agency. For the purpose of fraud prevention and credit management, information about you and the conduct of your account may be disclosed to financial institutions and other phone companies. Such information may also be passed to debt collection agencies for debt collection purposed.

Merchant Credit Guide Co Well, I'm here to tell you who these people are, or at least some of them.

This is why some knowledgeable insiders feel that minor medical collections can unfairly drag down credit scores and undeservedly make people look like greater credit risks than they really are. Moreover, it's not uncommon for medical bills to go unpaid and be sent to collection agencies because of mistakes on the part of health insurers or HMOs. As a consumer, it is important to understand that a minor medical collection, or any collection or default judgment, can seriously damage a credit score. This is significant because researchers are learning that medical bills may account for more than 50 percent of collections.

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By Card Credit Debt Debt Guide Yes, I admit it: I left a dentist's bill unpaid for three months.

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Credit Repair OK, so dentistry isn't technically considered "medical," but it's the same situation: a doctor left in the lurch.

Active Credit Credit Guide Why did I do such a horrible thing, especially when I, a small businessperson myself, know how difficult unpaid debts can make cash flow, and how it could very easily make me persona non grata in that office?

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Why Medical Collections Happen

Bad Car Credit Guide Loan Or, Possible Reasons for Me Being a Deadbeat

Bad Credit Loan Here are reasons commonly advanced for why people like me might not pay a doctor's bill.

Credit Definition Derivative 1. They don't have enough money, plain and simple. After all, if they couldn't afford insurance, they probably are going to have trouble with the bill.

Bad Credit Mortgage 2. They don't care about the poor doctors and either don't know about or don't care about the potential for damage to their own credit ratings.

The Insider Guide To Credit 3. They are chronically lazy, stupid, or just don't know what they're doing. OK, the terms used aren't quite that specific, but that's the general idea.

Business Credit Card All of these possible reasons why a patient might not pay could be pretty discouraging for a practice looking to get the money it's owed. After all, there's not much even the best doctor can do about a patient's poverty, venality, or fecklessness.

Banker Complete Credit Guide But is there really so little hope for collecting on medical debt?

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Why Medical Collection Isn't Necessarily So Hopeless

Credit Guide Managing Or, The Real Reason I Didn't Pay My Dentist's Bill

Credit Card Offer I just signed and mailed a check for my outstanding dentist's bill. That just goes to show the situation isn't so hopeless after all, doesn't it? Here's at least one case of a healthcare practice getting its money back., and after three months at that

Merchant Credit Guide Company No, my financial situation did not improve dramatically, nor did my slothful ways correct themselves.

Bad Credit Wondering what the dentist did to make me pay? Plead? Cajole? Shame? Threaten to put the tartar back?

Collection Collection Complete Actually, the dentist didn't do anything, and that's the problem.

Credit Counseling Here's what happened: I remembered I had the bill to pay.

Complete Credit Guide Higher I had forgotten ever owing the dentist money. Since I wasn't expecting the dentist's bill, unlike all the bills that come every month, it got lost in a pile of credit card offers, appeals to help save trees being cut down to make paper, and news about really great products for writers. The follow-up letter reminding me to pay met a similar fate. It probably didn't help when I took a trip to Las Vegas and then threw away the junk mail en masse when I got back.

Chase Credit Card I finally remembered the bill when someone asked me to write an article about medical collections. Sure enough, the follow-up letter (though not the original bill) was there in the pile of newsletters and friendly reminders from various businesses to schedule this or that appointment.

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The Moral of the Story

Bad Credit Home Loan If you are a patient, make sure to check your mail for letters from the doctor's office. If you're running a healthcare practice, follow up with your patients who have outstanding invoices-a phone call is preferable, since it's less likely to get lost at the bottom of a pile of correspondence.

Bad Credit Personal Loan Don't have time for that? Worried about the legal issues of collection law compliance? Don't let that stop you. Go to a company that specializes in medical collections and accounts receivables management for healthcare practices.

Credit Score Guide It's not about "putting debts in collection" anymore. Many of these companies offer everything from sending out a few polite phone calls and letters to end-to-end accounts receivable management. None of this has to impact your patients' credit rating or cost you a fortune.

Online Credit Report Your office can go back to healing people. Isn't that why you got into this business in the first place?

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Bad Credit Debt Consolidation Read more of Joel Walsh's articles on debt collection: Debt Collection

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