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Tip: Use phone scripting to improve charity-care collections

Patient Financial Services Weekly Advisor, June 24, 2005

Within the pre-service area, staff needs to know how to discuss payment options with patients in need of financial assistance.

Scripting is a basic way that hospitals can set the tone of each patient contact. It is also a way to eliminate the use of "hospital speak" (i.e. jargon that is common to the healthcare industry). Scripting becomes a staff-training tool that allows staff to practice in-classroom enforcement before actually implementing new procedures with patients.

Share scripts with your PFS department to improve bad-debt write offs. Following a script can help staff direct patients to the financial help they need.

To ensure a consistent approach, develop a script for each common situation that staff may encounter. For example, one script may guide staff through the initial follow-up contact with the patient to provide financial education. In this contact, it is important to establish that this is not a collection call but an information call.

This tip is excerpted from Charity Care: Tools to Manage the Uninsured Population by Sandra J. Wolfskill, FHFMA. Copyright 2005 by HCPro, Inc. For more information, click here.

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