As with collecting on outstanding medical bills, your medical facility must act on recovering prescribed medical devices from patients. The loss of medical devices negatively impacts your revenue cycle, inventory projection, staff and future patients.
The failed recovery of a device means your staff members must invest a considerable amount of time contacting patients for the device or reimbursement, time that could be better spent on achieving your business’ main objectives. In addition, future patients may require a heart monitor or blood pressure cuff, only to discover that none are available due to ineffective device recovery.
Medical device recovery is unavoidable for device manufacturers that wish to protect their assets and boost ROI, but there are certain steps you can take to simplify and expedite the process. If your company is struggling with your recovery attempts, here are some helpful tips for regaining loaned medical devices.
Send Reminders Before Return Date
If your patients are frequently missing return dates, a lack of clear communication may be to blame. Make sure you send out reminders one to two weeks before the scheduled return date. If possible, try adopting a multi-channel approach and reach out to patients by phone and email. This will improve your chances of receiving the device on time or, at least, close to the return date.
Include Prepaid Return Label
If a patient needs to return a medical device, supplying a prepaid return label will simplify the process. To return the device, the patient will need only package the medical device, affix the label and schedule a pickup or drop it off at the appropriate carrier. With a prepaid return label, they may not even need to step foot into a post office. To make the return process even easier, you could also consider providing packaging or scheduling the pickup.
Increase Awareness of Prescribed Devices
One of the most effective ways to increase return rates is to always know where your medical devices are in the prescription and return cycle. You should have reports that notify you of upcoming or missed return dates. That way, you can send out reminders or contact patients that have yet to return overdue devices.
Identify Cause for Delayed Return
There are many reasons why a patient may have failed to return a medical device. They may miss a return date because of miscommunication, a shipping error, loss of device, breakage of device, etc. Contacting the patient and figuring out why the device was never returned can help you determine the next steps - rescheduling the return date, collecting reimbursement for a damaged device or passing the collection onto a specialist.
Bring In A Professional Recovery and Collections Company
Calling, emailing and constantly following up with patients can be a time-consuming, painful process. When you partner with a professional recovery and collections company, your employees can focus on what they were hired to do, while the agency employees concentrate on bolstering your recovery efforts. You’ll know that professionals are monitoring your prescribed devices and contacting patients to collect medical devices or payment.
If failed recovery of medical devices is affecting your business, VARO can develop and implement a customized, self-pay revenue cycle solution. Learn more about our medical device recovery services or contact us today.
