Best Practices Announced for the Appropriate Resolution of Medical Accounts by Medical Debt Collection Task Force

Waltham, MA (PRWEB) January 17, 2014

Connance, Inc. (http://www.connance.com), a leading provider of predictive analytic programs for healthcare enterprises, and a founding member of the HFMA Medical Debt Collection Task Force, announces the availability of the HFMA task force’s report titled “Best Practices for Resolution of Medical Accounts,” which establishes a framework for the fair resolution of patients’ medical bills.

“These best practices provide a much-needed blueprint for hospitals, physicians, and our partners in account resolution to coordinate their activities in ways that respect and benefit patients,” said Joseph J. Fifer, FHFMA, CPA, president and CEO of HFMA. “Patients want information that is timely, clear, and concise and deserve a consistent, fair process for resolving payment issues.”

This report identifies a common set of medical debt collection practices that can be standardized for widespread industry adoption that will lead to improvement in the overall collection process, the patient experience, and financial performance resulting in a fair collection process for patients.

“The Task Force believes that most patients want to resolve their medical accounts in a responsible manner. However, one of the challenges facing them is the highly variable processes used to resolve accounts which contributes to confusion,” said David Franklin, Chief Development Officer, Connance, and founding member of the Task Force, citing the goal of the new best practices. “We know that patient-pay is rapidly increasing as a result of the Affordable Care Act and the significant rise in high deductible health plans and I am proud to have worked on this report to help improve the process of fair account resolution for all.”

The report’s recommendations include following the guidelines from HFMA’s Patient Friendly Billing Project, patient education, acknowledgment of shared responsibilities, a framework for process workflow and additional discussion about account resolution activities, complaint tracking, and credit bureau reporting, amongst others.

The report and additional information can be found at http://www.hfma.org/medicaldebt.

About Connance, Inc.
Connance brings world-class predictive analytics and insights from hundreds of clinical settings to transform the performance of financial processes at hospitals, physician groups and outsourcing organizations. Connance solutions sustainably increase cash flow, reduce operating costs and improve policy compliance in self-pay, denial management, charity, and outsourcing processes. With clients like Centura Health, CHRISTUS Health, Florida Hospital, and Geisinger Health System, Connance is changing the expectations of financial executives. Connance is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more information visit http://www.connance.com or call (781) 577-5000.

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