Private liquidation

Medical practices that handle the invoicing of private medical services on their own should not only pay attention to the status of the settlement of claims, but also to the speedy invoicing. It is advisable to send off the liquidation immediately after the end of treatment. The often usual invoicing at the end of the quarter or even later often gives the impression that the practice does not need the money. It is advisable to specify a payment term as standard in private liquidations. For example, a practice could cite § 12 GOÄ, according to which a claim is due immediately.

Alternatively or in addition there is the indication that at the latest 30 days after the due date and receipt of the invoice according to § 286 III BGB default occurs without further reminder.

These additional texts signal to the patient on the invoice that the doctor expects punctual payment for the services he has rendered.

If a practice proceeds in this way and has established a strict reminder system, the results in the collection procedure increase significantly.

Defaulting patients should receive the first reminder after 30 days at the latest. According to the law, this is a sign of late payment. This fulfils the prerequisite for a debt collection procedure. Experts even recommend sending a second reminder after only 14 days, in which the patient is clearly informed of the consequences of a collection procedure, for example. An attached copy of the invoice avoids excuses such as "I have not received an invoice".

In the case of private billing service providers, a comparison of the services offered is recommended. For example, the two free online comparison portals http://www.abrechnungsstellen-vergleich.de/ or http://www.scoremed.de/ are available for this purpose.

Here, a basic distinction must be made between the collection procedure and factoring. With the collection procedure, the physician remains the owner of the claim and thus also bears the risk of default. In factoring, the physician sells his fee claim to the service provider, who also bears the risk.

1. Wallenfels M (2014) Private liquidation. dermatology 30: 65