Legally speaking, an individual who does not fulfill his financial responsibility is classified as negligent. In clinics, it is common for this problem to happen, after all not all patients use health plans, and they cannot always pay in cash for procedures.

Patients with overdue bills can negatively interfere with the clinic's finances, so we have listed five tips on how to avoid this type of problem below.

Provide a secure payment type

Certainly, the safest form of payment is cash, as this is the only way to be sure that the value of the service provided will be in your hands as soon as you do. However, people are not always able to pay everything in cash, so they opt for installments.

In these cases, the safest way to pay your patients in installments is by credit card, because even if you need to pay a fee for their use, you are guaranteed to receive it. The reason is very simple: if the patient fails to pay the card bill, he will be in debt with the bank, and not with the clinic. Checks and promissory notes are not always a guarantee of receipt, so avoid these options.

Send reminders about the due date

If your credit card is not yet available as a form of payment in your clinic, it is important to be aware of ways to avoid the oversight of the debt. One of the methods is to remind the patient that he has a debt and that the payment date is close, because not all people fail to settle their debts in bad faith, but because they often end up forgetting.

The remainder can be sent a day or two before expiration and can be sent by SMS or e-mail. It is worth mentioning that some people feel grateful to have been reminded, but others do not find this situation very pleasant, so try to check with the patient if any reminders can be sent so that he does not feel coerced.

Offer flexibility in dates

Surely you have heard the phrase "what is the best due date?", Usually coming from a credit card company. This is a good strategy to ensure that payment is not delayed since not all people receive their salaries on the same date, this way the patient will be able to plan to pay off the debt on time.

A tip is to offer some pre-established dates for the patient to choose from them, for example, "we have the expiration date everyday 05th, 10th, or 15th", so the clinic can prepare automatic reminder emails for all patients who have due dates on those specific dates.

Keep patient records up to date

Often people go through changes in their lives, so when the patient returns to the clinic, the ideal is always to check if the data remains the same (phone, address, e-mail, and even last name).

Keeping this data up to date, and getting in touch with the patient becomes much easier, otherwise without having to contact him it is almost impossible to recover the credit.

Have a good relationship with the patient

However obvious it may be, it is always good to point out how the good relationship between clinic members and patients can directly reflect on possible debt negotiation. Whenever communication between both parties takes place in a healthy way, negotiations usually have a more positive result, so it is essential to work after-sales and prioritize excellent service always.

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