New approaches put patients back into POS collections.

Self-pay receivable levels a have increased significantly in the past year and smaller hospitals are seeing the greatest increases, according to a 2009 Healthcare Financial Management Association study. The findings indicate that receivables are now growing faster than patient revenue at nearly a third of hospitals and another third of hospitals have seen self-pay grow by 10% or more. With such a significant increase, many financial leaders are looking to walk new paths to decrease the number of self-pay patients, while also working toward optimizing point-of-service collections—while ensuring they don't alienate their patients in the process.

Before devising a solution, financial leaders need to track what level of self-pay is impacting the bottom line. This starts with having accounts receivable group patient accounts by original balance and expected collection rate. The original balance is easy enough to determine; however, arriving at the expected collection rate requires a look at past payment history, credit score, medical credit score, employment status, and other demographics (e.g., marital status).

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