Ease payment headaches. Capturing
charges at the time of the appointment is a more reliable reimbursement meth- od than sending out bills. “Having the patient pay at the time of
service saves you from having to send out a statement,” Ms. Willis said. “Al- though there is a cost to accept payment cards, it likely costs you more to send out a statement.”
Accepting payment cards reduces bill- ing costs. When patients pay up front, your staff doesn’t have to take the time to create, mail, and follow up on invoic- es. Practice consultants estimate that the cost of invoices, ink, envelopes, postage, and labor adds between $2 and $10 for each bill. Your cash flow will improve because
there’s more money available to pay for salaries, equipment, and rent. In fact, the 2012 Visa Small Business Cash Man- agement Survey found that 69 percent of U.S. businesses surveyed that accept
payment cards saw improvement in some area of their cash management process. Traditional billing and collection methods cost your practice in time, mon- ey, and productivity. Accepting payment cards means you can greatly reduce costs associated with outstanding receivables’ collection and repetitive invoicing. By offering your patients a choice in how they may pay for your services, you increase patient satisfaction and patient acquisition and build security for your medical practice. Patients can benefit because giving them the convenience of paying with payment cards offers them the opportu- nity to rack up rewards such as free air- line tickets, free hotel stays, or cash back. If you do begin accepting payment
cards, your office staff can conveniently charge the card without the hassle of repeatedly contacting the patient if the card number is kept on file. However,
Ms. Willis cautions that you should hire a company to do that instead of keeping the numbers in your office files. “There are companies that keep the patients’ card numbers on file for a prac- tice. They have an agreement that the patient signs that allows you to charge the payment card. I would not keep the card number on file in the office because that is a lot of responsibility,” she said. “If you have an unscrupulous employee, and doctors don’t tend to bond their em- ployees, all you need is one person to get in the files. It increases the risk of identity theft, in addition to fraudulently using the card.” For more information on accepting
credit cards, log on to
www.visa.com/ merchanthealthcare. n
Crystal Zuzek is an associate editor of Texas Medicine. You can reach her by telephone at (800) 880-1300, ext. 1385, or (512) 370-1385; by fax at (512) 370-1629; or by email at
crystal.zuzek@texmed.org.
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Texas Medical Association Political Action Committee (TEXPAC) is a bi-partisan political action committee of TMA and affiliated with the American Medical Association Political Action Committee (AMPAC) for congressional contribution purposes only. Its goal is to support and elect pro-medicine candidates on both the federal and state level. Voluntary contributions by individuals to TEXPAC should be written on personal checks. Any corporate funds or funds attributed to individuals or professional association (PAs) that would exceed legal contribution limits will be placed in the TEXPAC administrative account to support political education activities unless a refund is requested. Federal Election Law prohibits TEXPAC from soliciting donations from persons who are not either TMA members or TMA Executive/Administrative personnel and their families. All donations received other than from these persons will be returned. Contributions are not limited to the suggested amounts. TEXPAC will not favor or disadvantage anyone based on the amounts or failure to make contributions. Contributions are subject to the prohibitions and limitations of the Federal Election Campaign Act. Contributions or gifts to TEXPAC or any CMS PAC are not deductible as charitable contributions or business expenses for Federal income tax purposes. Federal law requires us to use our best efforts to collect and report the name, mailing address, occupation, and name of employer of individuals whose contributions exceed $200 in a calendar year. To satisfy this regulation, please include your occupation and employer information in the space provided. Contributions from a practice business account must disclose the name of the practice and the allocation of contributions for each contributing owner. Should you have any questions, please call TEXPAC at (512) 370-1361.
www.texpac.org 62 TEXAS MEDICINE August 2013
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