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accounts to a collection agency.
"My motto is that things monitored tend to be well-managed," says
Ms. Rochon. "You have to do everything, every day, from claims to
payments to deposits. It should be a routine. If you do everything,
every single day, it falls into place and takes care of itself."
The center follows other policies to help keep its costs down and
cash flow high.
•
Shopping for supplies.
The materials manager at Camp Lowell fre-
quently pits vendors against each other to ensure the best price, and
negotiates trial periods and trade-in deals for capital equipment pur-
chases. The staff are also always on the lookout for generic alterna-
tives to pricey brand-name products. For example, the center switched
from Demerol to meperidine. The switches and time spent in research-
ing deals have saved the center "quite a bit of money," says Ms.
Rochon.
•
Patient payments.
The center is "aggressive" on getting patient pay-
ments on the day of surgery, but in certain circumstances will set up
payment plans where the balance is paid in 3 installments. Patient bal-
ances can be paid online or pulled automatically out of a debit or
credit card. Ms. Rochon says that the center is also looking into work-
ing with a healthcare credit card company to let patients take out a
line of credit for medical services. The center would be paid up front
and patients would be responsible for making payments to the credi-
tor.
— Kendal Gapinski
