Failing to Collect ‘Small’ Unpaid Fees Adds Up—and Up, and Up

It would seem to be self-evident that your urgent care center needs to collect on all fees for care provided in order to stay in business. Whether by sloppy bookkeeping, honest mistakes, or well-intentioned attempts at “charity,” however, millions of dollars are going unclaimed for services rendered across the country, according to an editorial that appeared in the Chicago Tribune recently. The opinion piece, penned by the paper’s Editorial Board, goes so far as to suggest some staff members “couldn’t be bothered to ask patients to pay for their care” at the city’s Cook County hospitals. The authors may have a point, with a nod to data indicating that the county has lost $165 million—or more—in just a 3-year period “because of lax clerical procedures and employee errors.” City health officials say the figure is actually much lower, but the larger point remains that unpaid fees end up costing someone money, even if it isn’t the individuals who received the care. Played to its logical conclusion, the issue could ultimately result in some facilities going out of business, in which case no one will be able to get care at what was presumably the most convenient, quality facility available. The solution: Ensure your entire billing and coding staff is aware of the proper procedures, and ready, willing, and able to follow them.