A. L. Russell & Associates

How does the Profit Recovery Service increase my cash flow?

Our service fills a void created by two mature industries that attempt to help creditors but fall short.  Billing software or billing companies (the first industry) are good at creating itemized bills and keeping track of what‘s outstanding, but billing companies usually don’t have systems in place to go after accounts that age past 60 days.  When accounts age to 180 days, becoming harder to collect, providers place them with collection agencies (the second industry), hoping to recover some or all of the money.  Collection agencies usually charge a large fee but produce poor results.

Our unique Profit Recovery Service fills the gap between 60 days (the billing) and 180 days (the credit agency), which dramatically increases the amount of money you collect, thus accelerating your cash flow.

How is your Profit Recovery Service better than a collection agency?

Our innovative service fills the gap between the third or fourth bill and the placing of that uncollected bill with a collection agency.  Our process and the systems to drive it attack the root causes of the devaluation of receivables. 

Research shows that two main factors inhibit the conversion of receivables into cash.  The most important factor is age:  accounts deteriorate in collectability at an average rate of 10% per month, bad checks at a rate of 25% per month.  The second factor is the priority that debtors place on paying their bills:  the lower the priority, the lower the commitment to pay.  So the age of the account is inversely proportional to the commitment to pay it.  The greater the age, the lower the commitment, and the less likely that you’ll collect the money you’ve earned. 

As a creditor, you can’t just hope that your debtor patients will pay what they owe you.  What works is timely followup with sophisticated techniques that motivate debtors to resolve their outstanding accounts quickly, which largely eliminates the need for you to go to collection agencies.

What is the collection process?

In essence, creditors can use six increasingly harsh methods to collect accounts:

1. Send a bill, invoice, or statement.
2. Send internal collection letters.
3. Make collection telephone calls.
4. Use a third party such as an attorney or collection agency.
5. Report to a credit bureau.
6. Litigate (less than 1% of all external collections result from suit).

Most creditors use method 1 well, methods 2 and 3 indifferently, then resort to methods 4 , 5, and 6.  Our Profit Recovery Service combines methods 2 through 6 in an automated system for medical practices to use at an early account age.  This system helps our medical clients collect money faster, cut expenses, and retain satisfied patients, eliminating the need to use outside collection agencies.

Why would my practice need your Profit Recovery Service?

Whether the current economic climate is good or bad, some of your patients won’t pay on time, so you need a way to collect outstanding accounts.  Patients’ reasons for not paying promptly vary, but the results from our service do not.  We routinely collect 41% of the accounts that practice owners were ready to "write off," and we do that at fee rates as low as 5% of each recovered account.

How much does your Profit Recovery Service cost?

There is a minimal setup fee to get your practice enrolled.  In most cases, once you’re enrolled, we can collect your outstanding accounts for as little as 5% per account.