By David Crooks President, Easy Pay Solutions, Inc., CMT Special Contributor
David Crooks President, Easy Pay Solutions, Inc.
Traditional medical practices have a problem concierge practices do not. They file insurance papers and wait for an EOB before they know what their patients owe them. Doing business this way creates payment log jams that many practices never resolve. Your concierge practice is free from these barriers but still has obstacles to overcome in order to be paid promptly.
Your patients are most likely paying a membership fee to your practice but memberships don’t cover everything. There are additional services, lab costs, unique treatment regimens, and other costs your patients will be responsible for. How will you ensure that your practice is in the best position to collect every patient dollar?
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Card-on-file, the ability to securely hold a credit/debit card for later use, is a powerful tool for ensuring your practice will collect every dollar. Here are three advantages your practice will have by using card-on-file.
Collect Memberships Easily and On Time: Having a card on file ensures that your practice will collect the correct amount on the exact day its due. Payments can be scheduled so they happen automatically. Your staff will not need to process checks or handle cash so overhead costs are reduced. There’s also no need to pay equipment leases on old fashioned credit card terminals or have the bulky machines taking up room on your front counter. Card-on-file processing is usually done via a computer desktop application (cards can be swiped with a wedge that attaches to the PC or keyed into the computer).
Easy, on-time membership payments will smooth your practice’s cash flow and make your staff happy that they no longer have to “dial for dollars at dinnertime” to collect late payments from member patients.
Collect Additional Fees Without High Costs: If your practice bills any fees beyond memberships, card-on-file is the simple way to collect them. It’s true that you could bill the patient for additional fees and wait for them to pay you by check. But why wait? You didn’t become a concierge doctor to wait in line to be paid. And your staff will appreciate not having to make a bank run at lunchtime to deposit the checks.
A simple patient friendly payment acceptance tool designed for healthcare to eliminate the high cost of patient collections.
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Having a card-on-file to cover additional fees ensures that you will be paid immediately and again eliminate the billing and collection process.
Create Payment Plans for Higher Patient Balances: Your patients may have seasons of greater need that will result in higher balances not covered by their memberships. With card-on-file your practice can offer them patient-friendly payment plans that can process automatically.
Your patients with limited budgets will appreciate that you are looking out for them. Your practice staff will appreciate avoiding a potential collection challenge. You will benefit because you will save the billing and collection expense. It’s a win all the way around.
Card-on-file works because a consent is generated when the card is stored. The consent allows you to process payments up to a predefined amount each time the patient has a balance due. This is a convenience for your patients. They never have lingering bills or the need to write checks, buy stamps, or make a trip to the mailbox. Your practice benefits because you have a fast, easy way to get paid. You can now collect every patient dollar you earned.
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Three simple steps will eliminate the perceived barrier for many people who can afford to be concierge patients and contribute to the growth of your practice. Patients will continue to renew their contract every year if the service is affordable and you make payment easy.
About David S. Crooks, President,Easy Pay Solutions, Inc.
David Crooks President, Easy Pay Solutions, Inc.
CONTACT INFO.: David S. Crooks and/or Jim Turner, VP Marketing Easy Pay Solutions www.easypaycollect.com | TEL: 877.715.7166
Mr. Crooks is currently the president of Easy Pay Solutions, Inc., a Chicago-‐based company focused on helping healthcare providers expedite patient payments while reducing bad debts and patient receivables. The company’s Easy Pay cloud-‐based software provides an enhanced way to utilize credit/debit cards, storing the patient’s credit card information for later processing. This puts the provider in control of when he/she gets paid by patients. In addition, Easy Pay provides the traditional single payment feature, as well as the ability to use credit/debit cards for payment plans and phone collections.
Learn More About Easy Pay … CLICK HERE >>
