> >Any of you used the Small Claims Court for collections ? >Similarly, is it wise to retain a local attorney to take care of >collections ? >What about the fear that these are the folks who come back to sue you for >malpractice ? >Am I burning out ? (fear from manged care, patients,local >hospital,family practitioners....) > >Dr.Sarayu Balu,M.D.,FAAP Tel.(802)888-2448 >Ryder Brook Pediatrics, >P.O.Box 608, Morrisville, VT 05661. > > Although Small Claims Court is theoretically easy, it'll still be a number of hours out of your life. Based on what you feel your time is worth, unless it's a large account it's probably better to let the collection agency spend their time and earn their percentage. And though I've never been there personally, I've thought how nice it would be to see the look on the faces of certain parents when the judgement would go against them. One caution: the one time my associate tried Small Claims, the process server found the wrong person (but who had the same name). My associate initially didn't believe it was the wrong person and found herself threatened with a counter-suit! I've only let one account go for fear of what could have been an unjustified lawsuit. The child was complex, the family was nuts, and they stopped payment on a check after I'd refused to authorize a totally inappropriate referral. I was glad to forward the records, write off the amount owed, and never have any dealings with them again (actually I did see them once when I was the voluntary attending in a teaching hospital's pediatric clinic and had the guilty pleasure of watching them squirm uncomfortably) Michael Sachs, M.D. General Pediatrician