Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that bad debts prompt a change in billing and that hospitals are demanding cash up front from their patients. Traditionally, hospitals bill patients after they receive their care, but now with more increased bad debt and charity-care costs, hospitals are asking patients for money before they get treated.
Unpaid bills for care given costs the hospital industry $31.2 billion in 2006 according to the American Hospital Association.
If you have a large amount of bad debt you may want to think about offering a discount if someone pays cash at the time of the sale, protecting yourself and saving your customer money. With the economy in turmoil and more and more people wanting to decrease the amount of bills they have, this could work to your advantage and be a win-win situation for you and your customer.
My friend from College experienced this first hand last week.
She had (minor) surgery on Monday and Tuesday night she had a reaction to her pain meds. She lives alone so she called EMS who transported her to the ER. She did not think about bringing her checkbook or a credit card with her.
Before she was discharged someone from accounts receivable was demanding her co-pay.
If my skin is swelling, hot and peeling off of my body the last thing that I am thinking is "where's my checkbook?".
Posted by: Teresa | April 29, 2008 6:53 AM | Permalink to Comment