The reply by Michael Sachs was well written and covered most of the important points. A few additional observations: We have learned over the years that one of the most important aspects of financial dealings with patients is EXPECTATIONS. When patients are not asked to pay at the time of service, then receive monthly bills with no consequences to not responding, it becomes easy for them to put you at the bottom of the priority list. One of the first things you need to do is sit down with your office personnel and develop a WRITTEN financial policy for your office, make each patient gets a copy when the first come to your office, then follow it. You can be as strict or lenient as you want to be depending on your local and personal circumstances, but if your patients are not paying you, it should be because you have made that choice (to write off a charge, accept delayed payments, or whatever) not because they have chosen to ignore you. > I usually don't have a clue as to which of my patient's families actually > pay for my services. I sort of like it that way. But, today my billing > secretary showed me a 250 or so accounts that were more than 120 days old > that each owed more than $100 USC. You will continue to be surprised if you don't systematically review overdue accounts. It's a lot easier if you have a written policy to follow. You can always make individual exceptions, but these should be infrequent, and the patient should know that you have decided to make an exception and why. > I looked at the names on the list and wish I > hadn't- there are some families I really had worked with that had not so > much as made a token payment on account- nor had called to say that they > were having monetary problems at the moment. What do I do- I can't turn > away a sick child? You must always see a child who is a patient of yours no matter what the situation is with their account. But you can exercise the right to terminate your relationship with advance notice if a parent is not willing to work with you. Remember, strained relationships can get in the way of optimal care. > I hope that if they forget to pay they at least wouldn't forget to stop to > help him change a flat tire on the side of the road some other night. I don't think "forget" is the right word in this situation. Good Luck! Ken Setter MD