Americollect
Healthcare Receivables Advantage:
Win-Win Collection
Concept:
Americollect differs from other agencies
in our approach to collect. With faith
in the patients, the Win-Win
Collection Concept uses a sales
approach to collecting. Every collector
is trained to use the
Win-Win dialogue to control responses,
create buy-in, and eliminate complaints.
Part of its success is the use of options
to try to collect an account. Below are
examples of the
Win-Win Collection Concept.
“Will you be paying the balance
this Friday or would next Friday be better
for you?” Assumes payment-in-full
and gives a Win-Win option, also creates
an inquiry about his/her payday.
“Would
you be paying the balance with your credit
card or would you prefer to do a check
or savings account withdrawal over the
phone?” Assumes payment-in-full
and gives a Win-Win option.
“We haven’t received your
payment in the mail, why not double check
with your spouse, to see if he or she
mailed it? If he or she hasn’t,
just mail it today.” Reinstates
the promise and lets your patient save
face. No direct interrogations for money
supposedly sent, such as check number
and date mailed, which normally ends in
a conflict call.
At Americollect, you will never hear demanding,
demeaning, or humiliating dialogues. Our
dialogues will not create time wasting
complaint calls for your staff. Our goal
is payment-in-full with options and conflict
resolution.
Lessen Complaints:
At Americollect,
we strive to eliminate complaints to our
clients, the Department of Financial Institutions
(DFI), and the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC). In 2008, the DFI & FTC
received only 3 complaints each about
AMERICOLLECT.
In that time, we made 1,726,369 phone
attempts and sent over 285,032 notices.
That is one complaint per 670,467 communication
attempts.
Growth:
Current president Kenlyn T. Gretz purchased
AMERICOLLECT in 1999 after 11 years of
working as the company’s collection
manager. Starting with 12 employees, Kenlyn
aggressively grew AMERICOLLECT, consistently
adding between 4 and 8 employees per year.
AMERICOLLECT has been recognized as a
growing corporation in Wisconsin, winning
two awards: In 2004, the Manitowoc Chamber
of Commerce named AMERICOLLECT its Small
Business of the Year, in 2008, Corporate
Report magazine, along with the University
of Wisconsin Oshkosh awarded AMERICOLLECT
with the Small Business Success Story
for Solid Growth, and in 2009, Inc. Magazine
name AMERICOLLECT as one of the United
States 5000 fastest growing companies.
In December 2007, AMERICOLLECT opened
a new 8,400 square-foot facility, allowing
AMERICOLLECT to grow to 95 team members.
In addition to allowing AMERICOLLECT future
growth, the facility was built with the
newest technology, creating a highly efficient
work environment for our employees. AMERICOLLECT
utilizes a secure entrance and tracking
systems, VOIP telephone system capability,
internal secure wireless access points,
and redundant IT networking. To learn
more about our technology Click
Here.
Charity Care:
Americollect
is understanding of your uninsured and
poor patients. If we find that your patient
may qualify for Charity Care, we can work
with your staff to implement a Charity
Care Referral Program.
Credit Bureau:
Americollect lists accounts that we feel
are true and accurate on three major credit
bureaus:
- TransUnion
- Experian
- Equifax
We list accounts that are above $10 to
Experian and Equifax, and accounts above
$50 to TransUnion. Our procedure is that
after 30 days, accounts can be listed
on the patient’s credit file. Extensions
are given regularly to patients who work
out payment arrangements. Our goal is
not to put a bad mark on their credit
file, but a paid-in-full on your ledger.
Insurance Team:
Our insurance team consists of three collectors.
They have an average
of nine years working with insurance claims.
Sometimes necessary information is not,
or cannot be provided by the patient at
the date of service. Our insurance team
collects this information and files claims,
or reports all information back to our
client to allow him or her to file claims.
We have developed an in-house insurance/HMO
database for filing of claims.
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Other Services
Offered:
Second
Placements - Our second placement
program uses our Skip Tracking (a.k.a.
finding a patient's address or phone number)
technology to find the patient and assets.
After six to twelve months, primary agencies
normally give up on accounts and wait
for the Credit Bureau to collect. Often,
a patient will be back on his or her feet,
and it is just a matter of finding him
or her to receive payment-in-full. Historically
we have collected 7.9% of second placements.
This is a great way for you to “test
drive” our collection process. To
learn more about our Skip Tracking process,
Click
Here.
Payment
Monitoring - Many healthcare providers
do not have the staff, time, or systems
to monitor the payment plans they have
set up with patients. Our payment
monitoring program does exactly
that - it monitors the payment arrangements
you have with patients for you. We notify
your patients when they skip a payment
with customizable options for phone calls
and letters. We make the calls in your
name to the paying consumer.
EBO/Early-Out
Program - When you have budget
cuts and staff reduction, Americollect
can act as your assistant to add the finishing
touch on accounts that are not quite ready
for full collection. With the early-out
program we work your accounts as an agent
of your facility and not as a collection
service. We use your letterhead and make
phone attempts in your name. Americollect
will work with you to develop letters
and telephone scripts. Americollect helps
you improve your effectiveness, reduce
your overhead, and increase your cash
flow by using our economy-of-scale for
phone calls and letter attempts.
Pre-Collect
Service - When a patient pays-in-full
on our first notice, it can be an annoyance
to our clients. That is why we offer Pre-Collect
Service. We send out a letter in
Americollect’s name before we start
full collections. It is a simple, inexpensive,
and highly effective approach to reduce
your accounts receivables while increasing
your cash flow for those easy to collect
accounts.
Mail
Return Service - If Skip Tracking
(a.k.a. finding a patient's address or
phone number) is not your strong point
let Americollect help. Our Mail
Return Service will use our Skip
Tracking resources to search skipped patients.
You can either forward us your mail returns
or an electronic file of your accounts.
To learn more about our Skip Tracking
process, Click
Here.
NCOA
- National Change of Address is a program
that we develop monhtly and provide free
of charge to our clients. Each month,
we email a listing from NCOA of all accounts
that have changed address.
Training
- Americollect offers a variety of training
seminars that teach healthcare providers
how to improve in-house collections. We
have trained multiple times at the WMCA,
WCCMA, and AAHAM healthcare conferences.
Onsite training is available to your staff
free of charge or if you prefer you can
have your staff train at Americollect's
office. The seminars can be as long or
as short as you need. To see a list of
the seminars please contact us at the
information below.
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To discuss Americollect’s
professional, compassionate collections
please call or email us at 1-800-838-0100
or sales@americollect.com.
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