Author Topic: Opinion needed on unhappy client  (Read 3773 times)

Lisa@srts-inc.com

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Opinion needed on unhappy client
« on: April 22, 2010, 10:33:41 AM »
I have an unhappy client and am looking for opinions on how you would handle this situation.

We have handled her billing since 2003 and recently she had a patient who has a credit balance on her account of $500.00.  The client feels that we should should help her pay back a large percent of this amount to the patient.  The credit started out at $170.00 and we had a former employee who did not inform her for almost a year, but since then she has been faxed, called, sent multiple credit reports over a 2 year span now and she let it accumulate to $500.00.

The client feels since we did not notify her right away that we should be responsible for a good portion of the payback.  This client is billed on a percentage of her collections so we gave her a credit on her bill which equals a little more than our percentage of the total $500.00.  She was overpaid by $500.00 not us and our feeling is she got the extra money and we gave her a credit since there was a small error on our part but we do not feel any more responsibility than that.

She has been a good client and we ant to keep her happy but on the other hand we have been a great service for her and since 2003 this is her only complaint with us and she ignored our notices and let this balance increase.

She did not think our credit was sufficient.

What would you do??

Lisa02184

Pay_My_Claims

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Re: Opinion needed on unhappy client
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2010, 11:20:49 AM »
The question is what is it worth to you? $500.00 for some is a lot of money. I think your issue isn't the money but the principle, and you and your client both seem to be at a stand still on that ground. You see your fault up to the time of notification, From what I read, the client owes the $170.00, and you owe the difference from the 170.00 to the date you began notification, and she owes the rest after that. I don't know what you can do at this point, because what I would have done from the beginning just won't help you now.

Lisa@srts-inc.com

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Re: Opinion needed on unhappy client
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2010, 11:31:29 AM »
Thank you for you input.

The client received and owes the patient the entire $500.00, we didn't get any of this money, she received and kept all the extra money the patient paid her.  Our blame is not telling her there was a credit on the patient's account until it was at $170.00, she then continued to take money from the patient that she was told not to and it has now increased to a credit of $500.00.
Lisa02184

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Re: Opinion needed on unhappy client
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2010, 11:36:52 AM »
Wow, well it is my experience that most providers don't like to give refunds. Does the patient know she is owed the money?? There is one thing for me to swallow the cost of my mistake, but not swallow the cost of my mistake and someone's "take". I would stand on my moral ground. After 7 years of doing her billing, it has to stand for something. As I stated its not the $500.00 because even if you paid it and kept the client, you would feel miserable afterwards.

PMRNC

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Re: Opinion needed on unhappy client
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2010, 03:32:23 PM »
I personally wouldn't refund the client anything. You didn't charge the provider for any portion of that credit therefore why would you reimburse her on money SHE collected? Doesn't even slightly make sense since you didn't collect anymore than your percentage. I would stand firm and tell the provider you stand by your method and your contract. She owes the patient.. plain and simple. If the patient makes a stink, it's her responsibility! Also what about her looking at her accounts, surely this credit appeared somewhere in a report (A/R) somewhere and again, it's not your responsibility. What I would do however is look at your compliance and procedure guidelines to make sure you follow the protocol for alerting the provider of credit refunds and maybe tweak your policy on that for the future.
Linda Walker
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Re: Opinion needed on unhappy client
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2010, 03:32:23 PM »

DMK

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Re: Opinion needed on unhappy client
« Reply #5 on: April 22, 2010, 08:47:05 PM »
Thank you Linda, that was the piece I was thinking of!  There would be a report showing a credit over and over again.  In CA you have 30 days to refund a patient's money if they've overpaid, unless they indicate that they want to maintain the credit.  Why did they continue to collect more money?  Does the staff have no access to the patient's account?  BTW how did $170 turn into $500 and why would the biller be responsible for repaying money collected by the provider?

Lisa@srts-inc.com

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Re: Opinion needed on unhappy client
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2010, 03:11:37 PM »
She was sent multiple reports showing the credit.  The provider continued to take money because she says the patient insisted she would have a balance each visit, even though we told the provider over and over to stop taking payments and refund the patient.

I really needed other billers opinions because I sent a detailed timeline to this provider and showed all of the info we sent her and how she let this balance increase and as a courtesy we gave her a small credit but we received back this nasty letter from her not happy at all.

I really felt we were completely in the right but was so glad to have this site to post and see what other people think.


We are in Massachusetts and I am not sure how many days we have to refund a patient, I need to look into that.
Thanks!
Lisa02184

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Re: Opinion needed on unhappy client
« Reply #7 on: April 30, 2010, 10:25:24 AM »
On YOUR end you only need to document the credit, bring it to their attention.. you can't force the provider to whip out his checkbook. If they are still insisting you are responsible, I would probably dismiss the client according to my contract and if they still pursue it, talk to your attorney. A provider is never happy when he has to actually write a check, however that's not your problem, sometimes as billing companies if we "assume" liability just to make a client happy, you can un-necessarily begin a precedent.  My standing your ground on this issue you are letting the provider know this is not the standard practice and that you cannot be held responsible for their errors or oversights.
Linda Walker
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Re: Opinion needed on unhappy client
« Reply #7 on: April 30, 2010, 10:25:24 AM »