Stale A/R on Legacy Systems – Is It Really Worth It?
Consolidation in our industry is happening at a feverish pace. While, at the same time, improvements in software design and features, that at one time were considered bells and whistles, are now necessary requirements. But as we continue to move towards the more efficient future, we can’t lose sight of resolving the past.
This week I received calls from two large infusion providers. They are competitors in many different ways. While they are competing for patients they are mostly competing for market share. It was interesting that in their haste to “bulk up” they were each facing the same dilemma…how to effectively manage the old A/R on the various legacy systems they had acquired. In many instances the A/R had not been thoroughly evaluated prior to the acquisition and was being handed over to the reimbursement department to “handle.” The new owners did not want to spend significant resources chasing after the old while focusing their efforts on the new. Is that old stuff worth going after in the first place? What if it’s all junk? Some of it must be good but they didn’t want to convert the A/R to their new systems to find out. They needed to keep it separate and be able to report on it individually. They also did not want to pay the high maintenance support fees on the old systems that may soon not be supported. Then there is the issue of finding people to work the A/R on different systems. Usually in acquisitions employees don’t wait around to see if they will have a job when all the dust settles. What to do now?
The first thing to do is not to panic. The second thing is to quickly evaluate the A/R. This can be best accomplished by reporting on certain data that has been carefully extracted from the database. Establish parameters for identifying the most likely collectible receivables and then prioritize those remaining cases to be worked based on the payer, the age, and the total receivable amount of the case. Consideration must be given to the terms and conditions of the payer contracts in place with respect to the A/R. Once this has been accomplished it’s time to go to work.
The actual work of reconciling the old A/R and recovering payments should not be delayed. Timely filing requirements may hamper any chance of getting paid. The actual work can be accomplished by hiring contract billers to work off of the system or by outsourcing the A/R to a specialty infusion receivables management company or if a company waits long enough they won’t have to do anything at all. It will simply be too late. Often times with these types of projects the money is just waiting to be collected, but there are simply not enough of the right types of resources to do the work.
Old A/R on old software systems...is it diamonds in the rough or hidden treasure? My advice, don’t wait around to find out.