At LTC Collections, we are generally called in to help once a skilled nursing facility’s receivables are really in a mess. Of course, that’s what we do best – get you the cash from old receivables that your team has deemed un-collectable. In this article we will explain how we determine where to focus our efforts when we receive a new account.

There can be many reasons why a claim was never followed up on: Perhaps the claim was denied, and your skilled nursing facility’s billing team didn’t get to fight the denial? Possibly there was a period, maybe due to change in staff, where some claims fell through the cracks? Or perhaps there were errors in how the claims were billed to begin with.

Our collections team sees many of the above scenarios daily, and more. In order to gain better insight of the full account, we begin by stepping back to see if we can pick up on any of the following over-all trends: timeline trends, resident trends and mis-posting of cash.

1. Timeline Trends

Timeline trends are much like they sound. The LTC Collections team takes an overall look at which time periods yielded stronger receivables and which were less profitable. From here, our experts analyze records from the time period to understand what variables may have led to the missing collectables and work to develop a strategy for recoupment.

2. Resident Trends

This trend is on a more clinical level: the collections analysts at LTC will delve directly into a specific patient case where there is a noticeably lower level of collected payer debt. Next, the LTC Collections team will analyze the data to see if they can pick up on anything from incorrect billing codes to mistakes in admissions documents within a specific resident’s records.

3. Mis-posting of Cash

While not exactly a trend, a common cause for missing on collectibles is mis-posting of cash. As part of our audit, our LTC Collections team will analyze the records to pick up on any billing mistakes and/or items that have been posted wrong.

Searching for these trends in your own aging AR can help you make some sense of it all so you can determine a plan of action when attacking the large (and somewhat overwhelming) project of collecting old receivables.

The LTC Collections department services Skilled Nursing Facilities nationwide. Operated by a group of dedicated industry experts, we help clients reach new levels of profitability by efficiently collecting high ratios on outstanding AR receivable balances.