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Why ChiroCollect©?
Once your fundamentals are established; your principles, your credentials, your platform, your brand, etc.,
author Susanne Heun wants to help you have a great deal of money without thinking about it!
Benefit From Our Experience
Welcome to ChiroCollect©, The system we developed for billing and collection.
From 1992-2003 we documented collection rates of 96%-102% of all billings.
And, we did it all legally and without being a “preferred provider” for more than three insurance companies.
The No-Think method of Getting Paid
ChiroCollect© is all about “touching it once”; understanding and then setting up the infrastructure and
following through. ChiroCollect© instructs you to be consistent in your procedures and policies so as to bill and
collect almost effortlessly. It takes the emotion out of collection because it is based on total routine,
not total crisis management. Whether you are seeing one or one-hundred and one patients per day,
the best collection procedures are those that enable you to be thinking about what you do best, adjusting patients,
and not if the patient you are adjusting owes you money.
Fun, Friendly Advice
Throughout these pages, you’ll read "My Buck-Fifty" tips, which is more than “my two-cents”,
but still denotes some pithy perspective. At the end you’ll find an appendix chock-full of forms,
letter templates and a Glossary,
all of which may be helpful in training your team on collections.
FREE Sample Content: Keeping The Tank Full
"It costs just as much to keep it full as it does to keep it empty.” My father-in-law, a successful business man and chiropractor, was speaking of fuel in the car when he recited this pearl. But I think it applies here, too. As insurance benefits have dwindled in the last 20+ years, it would seem logical that collecting would be easier than ever, not so. I attribute this to Doctors and those they put in charge, being under-prepared, disorganized and erratic when it comes to patient accounting. Instead of filling the tank at the beginning of the journey, they wait until the tank is empty and there’s not a filling station in sight! Many think that while a practice is small, there is no need for putting policies and procedures in place, because there simply isn’t the patient load to necessitate this “extra effort”. Some face the challenge of collecting old accounts receivable with the purchase of a practice, and have no idea of where to begin. (As with ChiroHire©-Real Human Resources for Really Humane Doctors...) I contend that having everything, within reason, prepared, organized and routine not only allows for peace of mind, but practice growth in a harmonious environment.
It is absolutely necessary for the Doctor to know about billing and collection. I know many Doctors entrust a spouse or team member with the day to day business of patient accounting; this is reasonable. What is not reasonable is a doctor placing himself in a position of extreme vulnerability while kidding himself as he says: “I take care of the patients, she takes care of the bookkeeping.” Even the best team members come and go. Sad but true, even the best spouses, come and go.
Doctors must know the procedures and policies of their offices with the ability to continue functioning optimally when a key team member is absent temporarily or permanently. Doctors must be able to train new team members so that the routines in place are not weakened by turnover--or worse, so that they do not feel “held hostage” by the only person that knows those routines.
In today’s chiropractic office, it costs considerably more to keep it empty than it does to keep it full. The costs are personal, marital and familial discontent and despair and these inevitably trickle down to team members and patients. Confidence, contentment and harmony cannot be faked long term. Get prepared, organized and develop a routine, so money, billing and collection are non-issues.
The Current “Economic Crisis”
The good news is that ChiroCollect© is relevant regardless the state of the national economy--and if you have been using ChiroCollect© for awhile you are better prepared than most during an economic downturn. The fact is that the only way to effectively manage your receivables is to decide what your financial policies are, get those policies in writing, implement those policies and follow-up consistently.
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