Healthcare practitioners and physicians in the United States encounter an ever-increasing problem of patients who do not pay or clear their medical bills. When a medical practice works on a ten percent profit margin; for instance, 4% of its patients do not pay their expenses, 40% of the net profit will be effectively gone.

Collecting money from present patients is undoubtedly more vital than acquiring new patients. Regardless of the size, medical practices lease a collection agency or service to recover money from past-due accounts, thereby curtailing their losses.

Practitioners, physicians, practices, diagnostic labs, and hospitals grapple with the significant rise in deductible insurance. The in-house staff of medical offices gets despondent or downcast of being turned into part-time debt collectors.

• Insurance coverage is getting constrained on several procedures. Hence, this leaves patients to bear the additional expenses.
• The intensification or upsurge in healthcare costs.
• The majority of patients have extraordinary deductible health plans. However, a significant percentage of Americans do not have more than $1000 in savings.
• Cuts in Medicaid. 
• Often, patients have various medical bills since they need more than one procedure for treatment.
• Patients may also have other bills and expenses to cater for, such as credit card or student debt payments.
• Medical bills are often unanticipated and prodigious. Sudden outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic can monetarily cripple most Americans.
• Visits to the emergency room.
• Your billing system may be too complex for patients.

Large personal medical practices and hospitals suffer from non-payment of medical bills. Hence, one must hire a collection agency or medical debt collection service, like HMS Collections.

We are a debt collection agency located in Chesterfield, Missouri, that helps businesses and enterprises collect money owed to them. We have a successful partnership with our customers for more than two decades. Our collection agency embraces honesty and integrity – the solid foundation that has enabled us to build and maintain lasting relationships. Our collection services incorporate:

Dispute management and resolution

Our debt recovery professionals are well trained for dispute management and resolution to guarantee that the integrity and credibility of your business are defended and remain intact.

Data validation and customer tracking.

Our collections services utilize every available boulevard to locate debtors whose contact information has changed.

Debt negotiation.

We offer options in debt restructuring on your behalf. With your approval, we can negotiate a fair solution to close the debt.

We offer countrywide contingency debt recovery services which are grounded in the following principles:

• Consumers do not pay up any front fees to refer to a collection account.
• A customer only pays the fixed contingency recovery rate after we retrieve the debt.
• We report the status of all our customers’ accounts to all credit reporting agencies for free.
• We will pursue legal action through the opposite courts if obligatory to recover a bad debt.
• We utilize our knowledge of local, federal, and state debt collection laws to the maximum benefit of our consumers.

Delinquent payments lead to cash flow issues for a business. Outsourcing a debt recovery specialist from HMS Collections is not only cost-effective but also an efficient alternative for recovering your unresolved debts. Managing collections as an in-house process is exceedingly difficult. Your staff does not have the time or training to apply the necessary consistency in the collection process. Thus, our service-oriented approach and friendly nature that come logically to our debt recovery agents are called into action together with the right probing to ensure you do not stress over debt collection.

Our elite staff instinctively know that they should embrace courtesy and respect when treating debtors as this promotes fast and efficient debt recovery results. However, Missourians also have a strong sense of justice. Our recovery attorneys and agents always believe in doing the right thing irrespective of its convenience. Hence, our legal teams and recovery agents enthusiastically and fruitfully hunt bad debs across Missouri.

Nevertheless, we are equally effective in recovering lost national and international revenue. Working within the restraints of the local and federal laws, our recovery attorneys and legal network work together to heal your owed money.

HMS Collection Agency offers debt collection services for various medical segments such as urgent care, physicians, convalescent care, veterinary, dental, hospitals, medical labs and testing, medical billing, and ambulance. Besides debt collection for healthcare, we also excel in municipal collections, consumer debt collections, self-pay pre-collections, and commercial debt collections. If you need any help with recovering the money you owed, do not hesitate to contact us.

Our team of skilled recovery agents will be enthusiastic and willing to assist you by any means possible. They are streamlined in a time-consuming process. They can efficiently collect payments and follow-up with debtors to facilitate fast recovery. Nevertheless, this article seeks to expound more on debt collection services.

When owing money to an institution, most individuals often wonder what would happen if their debts are turned over to collections. Well, when you owe a large medical bill to a hospital, they may require you to pay higher amounts to clear your debt rather than make small monthly payments. If not, your debt will be turned over to collections.

When a medical debt goes to collections, the collection agency that bought the debt may report the account to any credit bureaus such as Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. These credit bureaus do not exhibit medical collections on a credit report until they are 180 days past due. During this grace period, individuals with medical debts have six months to resolve any billing or insurance problems and make necessary payment arrangements before reporting the past-due balance.

If you presume your medical cost is incorrect, ensure you contact the creditor immediately you receive it to start rectifying the issue.

An unpaid medical collection account negatively impacts your credit scores, albeit you are sending in monthly payments. If you cannot agree with the provider and sell your debt to a collection agency that then forwards a report to the bureaus, your collection account will remain part of your credit history. It will be seven years from the original delinquency date (when the account first became late leading up to the collection status).

Clearing your medical collection is better off than leaving it unpaid. However, this will not automatically erase it from your credit report. Rather, your account will be updated to show the payments and a nil balance.

So, what do you do if your medical bill goes to a collection? Well, if you have a medical debt that you cannot pay off, try and get in touch early enough with the medical practice or institution to discuss your alternatives. Depending on the circumstances, some medical offices can set up a payment for you to enable you to avoid collections and maintain your credit history. Conversely, if you want to take care of a medical debt that has already gone to collections, consider the steps below:

Get in touch with the debt collection agency to gauge your payment arrangements. 

Typically, a paid collection is more favorable than an unpaid one. If you cannot pay the full debt, some collection agencies can provide you a settlement amount. Settling debt is better than leaving it unpaid. However, a settlement is not good since you will not pay the full amount owed. Thus, it would help if you considered your options before you choose to accept a settlement.

Comprehend the statute of limitations.

This refers to how long the creditor can attempt to recover the money owed legally. It can vary by state. However, it does not include any bearing on how long the item appears on your credit report. Collection accounts can stay on your reports for up to 7 years from the original delinquency date.

Check to affirm that your credit report is up-to-date.

After clearing off the debt, the debt collection services will notify the credit reporting companies to update the account as the payment has been fully made. Order a free copy of your report from the credit reporting agencies to see how your account appears.

Dispute inaccurate information.

If you cleared your debt some months back and your account has not been updated, dispute the data using the dispute center on any credit reporting agencies. Additionally, you can upload any documentation you have to support your claim, like a letter from the collection services to guarantee that the debt is fully paid.

No individual is immune to damage from a collection account on their credit report merely because they pay their bills on time. Medical bills that you are not aware of can hurt your credit. On most occasions, medical expenses hit collections because you never realized you owed anything. Thus, before you conclude anything, you should contemplate the following:

Your insurance cover will not cater to everything.

As a consumer, it is your mandate to know what you are responsible for paying. Many people often presume that their insurance will cover all medical expenses, thereby inhibiting them from owing anything. This is not the case, considering how a procedure is billed with insurance. Thus, it is vital to prepare for the worst to avert anything from being sold to collections.

Medical bills can be sent to collections irrespective of your payments.

Making medical bill payments does not necessarily keep you out of collections. Regardless of your payment size or duration, you may discover that your provider has sent your bill over to collections. To avert this, set up a payment arrangement with the provider and ensure you get it in writing. If you agree with the provider to clear the debt in 6 months, they should not send you to collections as long as you make the agreed payments.

Medical collection accounts have specific treatments.

As far as your credit report is concerned. Medical expenses have outstanding treatment from bills sent to collections;

• They are given less weight.
• They have a grace period.
• They are removed once they get paid.

Inversely, to deal with medical debt, consider the following practices:

• Never presume that you will not owe.
• Always inquire for proof of your debt.
• Compare bills to insurance explanation of benefits (EOB).
• Make payment arrangements immediately.
• Ask to make monthly payments on medical expenses.

Managing medical debt can be a monumental challenge. Often, the bills are unplanned and can be substantial despite the help you receive from your insurance. Nonetheless, managing medical bills is possible, albeit you are juggling a whole lineup of ordinary expenses.

As mentioned earlier, unpaid medical expenses can lead to collections, thereby damaging your credit. You can use efficient techniques to curtail debt, pay it off, and avoid adverse impacts.

However, you will require a systematic approach and strategy to get the best results.

If you have medical bills that you encounter difficulties paying, your primary goal would be to prevent your debt from going to collections while you comprehend your charges, negotiate with your medical provider and figure out the best way to clear your debt. Many medical providers and hospitals would prefer to work with you to help you pay off your debt than send it to collections. Are you wondering where to begin? Below are some efficient techniques you can use to tackle your medical debt and avoid collections.

Review your expenses.

Collect all your costs and insurance EOB forms and review them for errors, unsanctioned charges, and duplicate billing. Ensure your medical provider has accounted for their payments and that your insurance company has paid for all covered expenses. If you have any questions, contact your insurance company or medical provider.

Negotiate your medical expenses.

The perfect time to negotiate your medical costs is before treatment. Nonetheless, you can ask your medical provider to amend your bill afterward.

Check if you qualify for an income-driven hardship plan.

Some medical providers and hospitals accommodate patients with low income and high debt levels. If such assistance is available, they may forgive a part of your debt and partition the remaining balance into smaller and more manageable payments.

Seek financial help.

Check whether your healthcare provider has financial aid for low-income individuals. Nonprofit hospitals should have these plans in place. If you qualify, these facilities may pardon a portion of our debt or completely erase it.

Consider a payment plan.

You can directly work out a payment plan with your medical provider, probably even with low or interest-free. Just ensure you get your repayment agreement in writing.

Utilize medical credit cards.

Medical credit cards offer 0% APR financing for 6, 12, 18, 0r 24 months. You can only use them for medical bills, and not all medical providers or hospitals accept them. If you can clear off your balance before the expiration of the introductory rate, a medical credit card can be an ideal money-saving alternative compared to regular credit cards. Get one online or from your doctor’s office.

Clearing a medical debt can be one of the most cumbersome things you have to deal with. Despite the help that you receive from your insurance company, you may still find it difficult to clear your medical costs in time. 

This gets more dreadful when your crediting report is forwarded to a debt collections agency or service. However, this should not worry you much as with professional help from the elite staff of HMS collections agency; you can minimize not only your debt but also get more time to pay off your debt.

So, if you have any questions or need more information on how we can help you collect or clear a debt, feel free to contact us here>>> As always, we are proud to serve as your collection partner.