What is the industry best practice for hospital payment plans, including terms, length, minimum payment, and interest bearing options?
Answer: When this topic has come up before on the HFMA forums, the common response has been not to do it yourself, but to hire one of the bank organizations that issue medical credit cards.
I hesitate to hand over our patients who incur unavoidable medical debts to for-profit companies who may offer 0 percent up front but may require fees somewhere along the way. We do struggle with the overhead associated with tracking payment plans, and it isn’t easy for staff. You settle on a plan for one amount but then patients require new services, so the balance shifts. We’re installing a new billing system that will help with the tracking and patient communications, but in the end, it is difficult and there are no easy solutions.
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