Patient Collections Basics Part 3: Developing a Financial Assistance Program
If you’ve read parts 1 (Know Your Payers) and 2 (Implementing Your Financial Policy) of this series, you are ready to consider a financial assistance policy for those patients without insurance.
Patients without insurance fall into one of three categories:
- Patients without insurance who have the ability to pay their medical bills but refuse to pay them.
- Patients without insurance who have the ability to pay their medical bills and are willing to do so.
- Patients without insurance who do not have the financial resources to pay their medical bills.
Patients in category #1 are easy to identify. We’ve all encountered them and we know that they do not value what the physician or care provider offers, or they believe that for some reason they should not be required to pay. They will waste your valuable time and should be discharged from your service if possible.
