MS - Computer Glitch Blamed for Collection Letters

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Aug. 1, 2000

Computer glitch blamed for UMC collection letters

By Gloria Butler Baldwin Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer

Hundreds of people wrongly received collection letter notices recently after an apparent computer glitch occurred at the University of Mississippi Medical Center's billing center.

Among them were UMC Vice Chancellor Dr. Wallace Conerly, public relations director Barbara Austin and Bill Kennedy, director of UMC patient financial services.

Because of the problem, the UMC billing system is being revamped.

In a matter of days, phone calls poured into UMC patient accounts, public relations and the vice chancellor's office from people stating they had received letters from a collection agency about a bill they never received.

In addition, many received letters stating the University Hospital and Clinics had attempted to contact the person about the bill numerous times. Callers told UMC officials that wasn't true and the first notice they received was a collection letter from Smith Rouchon & Associates Inc.

"I knew there was a computer problem and had fielded a lot of complaints from people about the notices before I ever got mine, so when I got one, I wasn't that surprised," Austin said.

Currently, the UMC billing department, referred to as the UMC Payment Center, is operated by Smith Rouchon, which also serves as the collection agency. Although bills are printed on UMC letterhead, they are actually being generated by Smith Rouchon billing.

Three letters are to be sent out before the office turns the bill over to its collection division. However, callers say they never got a notice they owed anything.

Kennedy, a Quorum Health Services employee, said a computer conversion was to blame for the issuance of so many collection letters.

Once complaints started being received, he said he noticed it could appear as a conflict of interest between Smith Rouchon doing both the billing and collecting.

Therefore, UMC has contracted with Computer Credit Inc., located in Winston-Salem, to serve as intermediary between the Smith Rouchon billing and collecting.

"We haven't seen any wrongdoing. But because it has the potential we have hired another company to go between the division that is supposed to be sending out bills and the collection part of the agency," Kennedy said.

"In addition," said Kennedy, "we have a new express billing form that looks like a credit card statement we'll send out making it easier for people to understand what they owe."

In the future, once a claim has been processed by the insurance company, UMC will send out the express bill showing the history of what the insurance paid and what the consumer owes.

The next letter is to come from Smith Rouchon, UMC's "extended business office," Kennedy said. If no response is received, it will be returned to UMC, which will then send a letter notifying the consumer it is being considered for bad debt. After that letter, it is sent to Computer Credit, which will then begin a series of four letters over the next 30 to 60 days in an attempt to collect the unpaid bill. If still no payment is made, it will then be sent to Smith-Rouchon for collection.

"This is a very big operation," Conerly said. "We (UMC) must collect $1 million cash a day to continue operations. State appropriations only account for 28 percent or $163.7 million of the total $585 million annual budget. The remaining $421.3 million must be self-generated revenue."

"It's a shame when something like this happens and gives us a black eye with all the good we do. If anyone has a problem they need to call. We want to work with them any way we can," Conerly said.

Kennedy said there are thousands of ways people qualify to receive bills and many ways health care is paid.

"I do have an attitude that people are aware of their existence of debt through their EOB (explanation of benefits) and that they should know they have a debt by the fact they have received an EOB from their insurance company. But, we still do have a responsibility to notify them of that debt ... I also have 200,000 patient accounts today in inventory," Kennedy said. "I got calls you wouldn't believe regarding the collection letters."

UMC Chief Financial Officer Joe Amato said UMC is trying to improve the billing and collections and at the same time be sensitive to the customer service side.

"We did go through a computer conversion," Amato said. "There were some things that weren't set up correctly and so there may have been some notices that didn't go out that the system said did go out. But until you start working through all of those separate issues you can't address them."

Kennedy said he has set up dummy accounts in an attempt to find out what the problem with the billing is.

"We have worked with them (Smith Rouchon) for about three weeks now to make sure their processes are clean. They are convinced as I am convinced that at a point in time there were people not receiving (bills) that their documentation shows they were receiving. I got one of those letters myself at my home and have blown up because they haven't tried to contact me either," Kennedy said.

Beth Barksdale, vice president of client services at Computer Credit, said she could not disclose any details of the contract with UMC or what responsibilities the company would have in the billing process.

Smith Rouchon referred calls to its Jackson attorney, Gary Thrash.

"I haven't heard of any of this," Thrash said when asked about the billing problems. "The company to my knowledge has always acted as instructed by UMC."

For problems with a bill, call 984-4640.

http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0008/01/01umcp.html



-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), August 01, 2000


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