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In depth training for new collectors

Training is the best way for a new collector to collect more accounts as quickly as possible.  If you have a new collector, use Ask-Doug Seminars webinar videos for valuable training.​​

Ask-Doug Seminars has created a 25 lesson plan for new collectors, using recordings of previous webinars. Each lesson is 60-75 minutes long. Your first lesson is available immediately after registering for this course. Then on the days you choose to have a lesson, a link for that day's lesson will be waiting for you in your email inbox. You can choose to receive 1-5 lessons per week.


With this training package you will receive:
  • Access to 34 videos over 25 lessons ($3,006 if purchased separately)
  • Extended 1 year access to all videos ($510 value)
  • Free registration to 4 "Ask Doug Anything" webinars ($196 value)
  • Electronic toolbox, containing over 50 sample letters as well as sample forms ($99 value)
This training package is only $949 (valued at $3,811)


Registration is simple and easy:
1. Complete a short registration form - choose which days of the week you want lessons
2. Pay with Gotowebinar
3. Receive a link with your first lesson and handout materials

  



Lessons 1 – 9: Beginning collections
 
Lesson 1
What a New Collector Needs to Know about Collections: We’ll talk about the things a new collector needs to know to get started. Or maybe your office doesn’t have a good collection strategy, and you’d like to review your collection procedures. This is the webinar Doug wishes he could have attended on his first day of collections! (60 minutes)

Lesson 2
Fundamentals of Collections: Communicating and documenting are the basic building blocks of a successful collections program. In addition, you want to work as efficiently as possible, to collect the maximum amount of money in the least amount of time and with the least amount of effort. (60 minutes)
 
Lesson 3
Federal Collection Laws: Each office and every collector needs to know the Federal laws that pertain to collections. Failure to follow the law can put the practice in jeopardy, as well as at risk for a lawsuit. A serious breach of a federal law could result in fines and jail time. Periodically, it's good to review these collection laws to make sure your office is in compliance.  (60 minutes)
 
Lesson 4
Collections Tools & Techniques: The successful collector has a number of tools at their disposal. They've also learned how to handle the routine "bad" things that happen on accounts. Having these tools, and knowing these techniques can help maximize the collection efforts. (60 minutes)
 
Lesson 5
The Care and Maintenance of Payment Plans: Sure, you’d like to avoid payment plans, but sometimes they’re necessary. We’ll talk about setting these up, monitoring them, and how to do the collections when payments are missed. We’ll also talk about automatic payment plans and third-party plans. (60 minutes)
 
Lesson 6
Collecting During Life Changing Events: Most patients start out with the best intentions to pay for your services. Unfortunately, some patients may have major changes in their lives--predicted or unpredicted. But accounts still need to be collected. Make sure your office knows how to handle these situations! (60 minutes)
 
Lesson 7
Overcoming Patient Objections: How do you respond to your patients' excuses for not paying your bills? What if they're not satisfied with the care they received? What if they are lying to you? We'll be giving suggestions on how to handle the different types of objections patients give to you. (60 minutes)
 
Lesson 8
Preventing Delinquent Accounts: A lot of delinquencies can be avoided simply by getting the right information, and disclosing the right information, all at the time of service. In addition, there are things you can do that help you get paid quickly without offending your good patients. (60 minutes)

Lesson 9
Getting the Most from Your Collection Agency: Collection agencies, on average, only collect about 15% of the accounts that are assigned to them. There are several things you can do to increase this percentage, receiving more money for your office. (60 minutes)
 
 
Lessons 10 – 15: Intermediate Training with more details
 
Lesson 10 (2 recordings)
Making a Collection Phone Call: There is a science to an effective collection phone call. Learn what you should do BEFORE you pick up the phone. How much should you say? How should you ask for payment? What should you NOT say when you're asking for payment? What should you do if the person starts yelling? uses obnoxious or obscene language? starts crying? What can you say in a voice message? (30 minutes)
 
Writing an Effective Collection Letter: A well written collection letter can be the fastest and easiest way to get an account collected. We'll talk about when to use short letters, and when a longer letter is necessary. Learn what part of the letter gets read twice. Discover ways to get people to open your mail. (30 minutes)
 
Lesson 11 (2 recordings)
Dealing with Divorce: In this webinar, we'll talk about how to handle an account when patients & clients go through divorce. We'll also talk about how to handle situations when the parents are already divorced, and a parent is bringing a minor child to your office, but wants you to collect from their ex. (30 minutes)
 
Collecting After a Death: Unfortunately, death is a fact of life, and we have to be prepared to deal with this situation. What's the easiest thing to do to collect these accounts? Does the spouse assume responsibility? When can you go after the children? What if the patient who died was a child? What if the patient is a child, but their parent (responsible party) dies? (30 minutes)
 
Lesson 12 (2 recordings)
The Dos and Don'ts of Discounts: Discounts can get you in trouble. However, some are perfectly legal. Sometimes it's a gray area. Some are clearly illegal or unethical. Can you offer discounts for paying at the time of service? Senior citizen discounts? Discounts to the doctor's friends and family? Discounts to referring doctors? Can you waive deductibles? Copays? (30 minutes)
 
Credit Balances: There are federal and state laws regarding credit balances. We'll talk about if credit balance statements are required, when are you required to send out credit balances, when can you keep a credit balance, what if you can't find the patient's address to mail the check, what if the patient has passed away, and dealing with uncashed checks (30 minutes)
 
Lesson 13 (2 recordings)
Cleaning up a mess (in collections): Sometimes things happen (or don't happen), and now you have a billing and collections mess. Maybe a computer glitch kept some statements from printing. Maybe an employee wasn't doing their job properly. Perhaps your office went years without doing any collection work. Maybe a billing service didn't do what you thought they were going to do. Perhaps you had a collection agency go out of business. Now you have a mess on your hands. We'll talk about different situations, and how best to resolve them. (30 minutes)
 
Confessions of a Lazy Collector: Bill Gates reportedly said, “I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” Collecting accounts can be a time-consuming process. But there are tricks and strategies that help you be more efficient.  This webinar contains many of the tricks and techniques Doug learned during his 40+ years of collecting accounts. (30 minutes)
 
Lesson 14 (2 recordings)
Fees, Fees, and more Fees: We encourage the behavior we reward - we discourage the behavior we punish. There are many fees offices may charge their patients: Missed appointment fees, returned check fees, finance charges, re-billing fees, charge for copying a patient's records. We'll talk about the laws, rules and regulations regarding the different types of fees you may charge your patients. (30 minutes)
 
Dismissing Someone From Your Practice:  We want to keep our patients and clients. We want to work things out. But sometimes you just have to let someone go. Make sure you follow the proper steps, so you don't get accused of "patient abandonment." (30 minutes)
 
Lesson 15 (2 recordings)
Skiptracing (finding) Your Patients: When people move, they tell their Facebook friends and their phone contact list that they've moved. But you're probably not in either list. You don't know where they are. And they don't know you're looking for them. We'll talk about 20 ways to easily find people. (30 minutes)
 
Creating a Financial Agreement: The more you tell your patients right up front, the easier it is to collect on an account. We'll be looking at some sample language for your financial agreement. We will review the required language if you are charging finance charges or passing collection agency fees on to your patients. We'll talk about how often you need to have your patients review and sign this agreement. If your financial agreement isn't at least a page long, you're missing some items! (30 minutes)
 

Lessons 16 - 19: Advanced Training
 
Lesson 16
Bankruptcy: From Start to Finish: When a patient files bankruptcy, that does not mean you won't get any more money. We will review what you need to do to maximize your recovery. We will also review what steps you are prohibited from taking. (60 minutes)
 
Lesson 17 (2 recordings)
 Ten Easy Steps to Using Small Claims Court:  Taking someone to court can be intimidating. However, this tool can be extremely effective in collecting your accounts. Even the threat of a collections lawsuit will get a number of accounts collected. We'll talk through the steps prior to using the court, the kinds of forms you will need to complete, and what you can do after you win in court. (It's really difficult to lose in small claims court!) (30 minutes)
 
Waiting for a Lawsuit Settlement: Sometimes your patients ask you to wait for payment while waiting for a lawsuit settlement. It could be an automobile accident or a personal injury case. But if you're not careful, you could end up with nothing. In this webinar we'll talk about how to handle these situations. (30 minutes)
 
Lesson 18 (2 recordings)
25 Warning Signs Someone Won't Pay their Account: Patients & clients who have no intention of paying you will often drop subtle - or not so subtle - hints. We'll review 25 warning signs that someone does not intend to pay for your services. (30 minutes)
 
Handling Checks: We'll cover several topics about checks in this Power Boost webinar: Returned checks, checks marked "Paid in full," unsigned checks, post-dated checks, stop payment checks, redepositing checks. (30 minutes)
 
Lesson 19 (2 recordings)
Collecting During the Holidays: Do you feel like the Grinch when you try to collect accounts during the holidays? Do your patients call you Scrooge? Are you so busy with holiday activities your collections get pushed to the back burner? We'll be talking about how you can still collect your accounts during the holidays while maintaining your own sanity. (30 minutes)
 
Collecting the Accounts of Millennials: Every generation has some unique characteristics, and the Millennials, born between 1981 - 1996, are no exceptions. We'll talk about some of those special characteristics, and how you can use that knowledge to your advantage when you are collecting these accounts. (30 minutes)
 

Lessons 20 - 22: Reviewing what you’ve learned
 
Lesson 20
25 Collection Myths: We’ll be looking at the top 25 myths about collections – things that your patients are sure are true about collections. Or things you thought were true, or wondered about, but aren’t true. Includes a quiz you can use. (60 minutes)
 
Lesson 21
25 More Collection Myths: We'll be looking at 25 more myths about collections - things that your patients are sure are true about collections. Or things you thought were true, or wondered about, but aren't true. Includes a quiz you can use. (60 minutes)
 
Lesson 22
Yet Another 25 Collection Myths: First we had 25 Collection Myths. Then we had 25 More Collection Myths. These webinars have been quite popular, so we created a third one, where we look at yet another 25 myths about collections - things that your patients are sure are true about collections. Or things you thought were true, or wondered about, but aren't true. Includes a quiz you can use. (60 minutes)
 

Lessons 23 – 25: Other topics for training

Lesson 23 
Customer Service in a Health Care Environment: Great customer service doesn't just happen. It's more than greeting people by name or answering your phone promptly. We'll talk about simple things you can do in your office that will help you provide superior customer service. (60 minutes)
 
Lesson 24
HIPAA Revisited: The privacy provisions went into effect over 10 years ago. But offices still have a lot of confusion on what they can and cannot do. We'll discuss several real-life situations and how you should handle them. We'll also talk about what has caused HIPAA fines and settlements. Includes a quiz you can use. (60 minutes)

Lesson 25
What "The Boss" Needs To Know About Collections: A brief overview of what "The Boss" (includes physicians, dentists, therapists, nurse practitioners, veterinarians and other health care providers) needs to know about their office's collections. We recommend the office manager and collection people join the boss for this webinar. Hear Doug tell "The Boss" why they should stop talking to patients about their accounts, and how to handle those situations. (60 minutes)

Register for this training