1. What to Expect from your Early-Out Partner

2.  Must be Bonded Agency  Must Carry Errors and Omissions Insurance  Must Offer Competitive Contingency Rates  6-12% depending on age of accounts  Transparency  Preserves hospital/patient relationship

3.  Programming  Timely Placement  1-31 days from date of service  Payment reports from hospital to agency  Daily or weekly (prevents unnecessary calls)  Medicare  Self-pay  Balance After Insurance (BAI)

4.  Process  Letters  On hospital letterhead  Phone Calls  Agency representative answers  “Billing Office”  Payments  Go to hospital  Insurance filling and follow-up by agency  Knowledge of all applicable laws  Knowledge of hospital contracts

5.  Process continued  Recalls  Indigent/Charity  Bankruptcies  Placement in error  Itemized bills and patient reqs—agency responsibility  Hospital liason/Patient liason  Mail returns—agency responsibility

6.  Process continued  Discount/Settlements  Based on hospital specifications  Monthly meetings  Minimizing and Handling Patient Complaints  Agency reps trained on hospital policies  HIPAA  Red flag rule

7.  Reporting by Agency  Acknowledgement—on receipt of accounts  Remittance  Monthly reports  Reconciliations—monthly  Close and return with A and B option  A. Return to client for bad debt outsourcing  B. Transfer to agency bad debt department with acknowledgement