How To Increase Cash Flow From Letters Of Protection Cont’d

How to Increase Cash Flow from Letters of Protection

Physicians and medical practice executives can find it difficult to manage cash flow, especially amidst the ongoing concerns surrounding COVID-19 and as elective surgeries and other lucrative procedures continue to be put on hold. Cash flow difficulties compound when medical services are provided to personal injury patients on a Letter of Protection (LOP) when payment from settlement can take years to receive.

Many practices attempt to handle LOP account balances in-house but LOPs are challenging for staff as practice management systems are not equipped to handle the complexities surrounding LOPs, including necessary and proactive follow-up measures with attorneys.

The downside, of course, is that cash flow takes a hit when LOPs are not managed properly and go unpaid. Since an LOP states that you, the medical provider, are agreeing to await payment from future settlements awarded to the patient/attorney, you can expect anywhere from six months to seven years before the practice realizes this revenue. Also, at the time of payment there may be reduction requests if the financial outcome of the legal case was not as expected. This can pose a serious risk to your payment. In response, some medical offices retain a paralegal or develop an underwriting department to screen the personal injury cases prior to seeing patients, all of which can be time consuming, costly and still result in unpaid LOP account balances.

LOP Financing Options: Third-Party, In House, Gain Servicing

Many practices sell their LOP account balances at a discount to lien financing, or medical funding, companies. This provides the practice with immediate cash flow and offloads the work of tracking, managing and collecting on LOPs, but it comes with a tradeoff. Not only does the practice give up control of the process but having a third-party manage your LOP accounts receivables (AR) can come at a severe cut in profit depending on the bid amount of the financing company on your AR balances.

But, if managed in house, medical providers lack options to increase revenue and decrease time between service and payment for personal injury treatments.

A viable alternative is to consider a data-driven financing partner, like Gain Servicing. Our technology platform is backed by artificial intelligence and data from thousands of personal injury cases – intelligence we are able to pass along to our medical partners, resulting in fewer write-offs and more paid-in-full LOP balances.

Additional, unique benefits of Gain Servicing:

• Automated LOP tracking – no more manual processes or workarounds
• Optimized revenues – our AI-powered platform enables us to compare balances and case data points to help you get a better return
• Business intelligence – detailed reporting and analytics show you how well our system is doing for you
• Referral source analysis – know exactly how patients are choosing your practice through the identification and tagging of attorney referrals
• White label options – our team can act as badged resources for your practice while collecting on LOPs, creating a consistent patient and attorney experience with your practice

In the Gain Servicing model, you benefit from our tools and technology, experience, expertise and optimization of LOPs without the risk you had previously been assuming by treating personal injury patients on LOPs and not having the right systems, processes, procedures and people in place.

A Newfound, Viable Source of Revenue: LOPs

With a financing partner like Gain Servicing, practices can open their doors even wider to personal injury and workers’ compensation patients.

Marketing for these types of patients is relatively simple. Begin first by letting physicians know that they can bring their personal injury and workers’ compensation patients who are uninsured or underinsured to your facility. Many orthopedic surgeons and pain management physicians are already treating or being approached by attorneys to treat these injured patients. You can also notify your local personal injury attorney offices or local litigation groups who legally represent potential patients of your willingness to accept their clients on a lien or LOP.

In Closing

Communication with patients and attorneys is an ongoing requirement when dealing with LOPs; otherwise, it is possible they may settle the case without paying your medical bill. A technology-driven, experienced financing company, like Gain Servicing, takes on the role of an entire collections department while additionally providing LOP-specific tools, expertise and processes. Namely, LOP receivables do accumulate and age well beyond 120 days, and if not working with a medical-legal funding company, like Gain Servicing, you will need to allocate valuable resources to keep up to date and track your LOP accounts.