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Newbie reaches modest milestone

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Michele:
I think you are getting two different situations mixed into one.  The one you are describing is a Dr that contacted you about services, but then became difficult to reach again, possibly seeming that he wasn't serious about his inquiry.  In the book, we are warning against providers who will sign with you, use your service to bill out, but then not pay.  Linda is right, a good contract helps to protect against this.  Unfortunately it doesn't always work.  We had a "corporation that was a no asset company that stopped doing business" that owed us a couple of thousand dollars and according to our lawyer, we have little chance of collecting.

You just have to try to cover all your bases, but realize you are never 100% protected.  Having a good contract, and good practices in place helps.

Michele

Steve Verno CMBS, CEMCS:
Regarding mistakes:  Mistakes are never negative.  They are positive.  We learn from our mistakes.  As said in Batman, Why do we fall?  So we can learn to pick ourselves back up.

Regarding some doctors.  I met one years ago.  he went through every billing company in his area, so he was desperate.  We were hired to audit his company, his coding and his billing.  We made suggestions on how to make improvements to save money.  We did his coding and his billing.  After invoicing him many times, he refused to pay saying we were stealing from him.  He turned his lawyer on us.  Real nasty type.  It never made it to court, there was a settlement.  THis is why he never had a biller.  They did their work, invoiced him, he refused to pay and turned his lawyer on them.  Several years later, i went by his office, it was closed.  The informal word out is he was blacklisted by everyone, including the local hospital. 

A provider contacted me and asked me to clean up his AR.  I looked and the oldest account went back 5 years, I named my price and he agreed.  I had disclaimers signed, a hold harmless agreement and a strong contract.  There were immediate problems.  The post office box I was told to use, was closed.  The same with the bank lock box.  The first check he wrote bounced.  Later, an insurance company filed a complaint the account was paid.  The disclaimer said the accounts i was assigned had NO payments and he owned the AR.  Next, I get a letter from a lawyer. Seems the doctor sold his practice and the AR. He had a box in his storage shed with unposted checks and denial EOBs.  The state and the company that he sold the AR to, went after the doctor.  MY paperwork was solid.  I did nothing wrong. 

We cant change those doctors.  WE can learn and make sure the same thing doesnt happen again.     

Alice Scott:
Amen to that.  You never know what you are getting into when you start a new account.

PMRNC:

--- Quote ---Amen to that.  You never know what you are getting into when you start a new account.
--- End quote ---

A hefty but reasonable start up fee usually takes care of that. :)

Alice Scott:
Yes, I've got to learn to do that.  Michele and I had such a hard time getting our business started that we took on anything we could get.  We had some great learning lessons that should have resulted in income but didn't.  When you are desperate to take on accounts to stay in business it is difficult to say no to anything.  We didn't make any money on those accounts, but we sure learned from them.

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