Collecting Your Fee: Legal, Ethical and Practical Considerations
Collecting Your Fee: Legal, Ethical and Practical Considerations is organized by Dentaltown, L.L.C.
Released: 08/17/2010
Review Date: 6/30/2022
Expiration Date: 6/30/2025
Overview:
Money and ethics often conflict. But being effective in collecting what you are owed is not in conflict with being ethical. There is nothing unethical about charging a fair fee, rendering competent services, and collecting your fee. This lecture explores issues that impact fee collection efforts from legal, practical, and ethical perspectives. The legal nuances associated with fee collections and the process for terminating nonpaying patients from your practice will be discussed.
We will divide the lecture into three sections. Section one will deal with the groundwork every office needs to have in place in order to effectively address overdue accounts. This will include the patient information sheet and the patient contract as well as the in-office protocol that needs to be ready before any collection effort is contemplated.
Section two will discuss the actual collection effort. We will review the difference between collection letters and collection calls and evaluate the effectiveness of each method. We will go over suggested collection letters, culminating in the definitive collection letter—a patient dismissal letter. We will discuss collection agencies. You will understand what your responsibilities to the patient are as well as the obligations the patient has towards your office.
Section three will explore the ethical issues that come to bear in a fee collection effort. Participants will understand that professionalism and ethics require vigorous and consistent collection efforts.
Educational Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to achieve the following:
• Make the office staff aware of the legal, practical, and ethical issues that surround efforts to collect overdue accounts
• Understand federal laws and guidelines as they relate to debt collection
• Understand how to institute an effective fee-collection effort
• Understand the ethical issues that impact fee-collection efforts
Note: The fee to view this course is $36. This cost includes the fee to take the exam and claim your CE credits.