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When a Patient Balance Should Leave Your Office

A defined handoff point protects both the relationship and the recovery rate. An undefined one produces balances that are simultaneously unworked and unwritten-off.

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1 min read · by White Glove Medical Billing
A parcel placed on a threshold, half in and half out

Every practice has balances that are too old to work and too large to ignore. Without a rule they sit in the aging indefinitely, counted as an asset, worked by nobody.

What an undefined point costs

  • Reporting lies. Uncollectable balances inflate A/R and make every derived metric optimistic.
  • Effort is wasted. Staff continue light follow-up on balances nobody expects to collect.
  • Inconsistency. Some patients get pursued and others do not, based on who happened to look — which is the pattern that creates a fairness problem as well as a financial one.

What the policy should state

The trigger. Usually days since the first statement plus a minimum number of contact attempts. Both, not either.

The threshold. Below some amount, write off rather than escalate. Recovery on small balances rarely covers the cost.

The exceptions. Hardship, disputed balances, and any account where the practice may have erred. Documented, and applied by rule.

The destination. Internal final notice, external agency, or write-off — decided in advance rather than per account.

The relationship consideration

Sending a patient to collections is a clinical relationship decision as much as a financial one. Some practices choose never to, and write off instead. That is a legitimate policy — it just has to be the policy, applied consistently, rather than an outcome that varies with who is looking at the account.

Denials Piling Up?

We handle the revenue cycle end to end — coding by certified coders, claim submission, denial management and appeals, and A/R follow-up, with six reported numbers every month.

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