Medical Billing Companies & Consultants in Scottsbluff, NE

Accelerated Receivables Solutions (ARS) is a family-owned collections and accounts receivable management firm in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Its main work is recovering bad debt for healthcare providers. The business started in 1932 and is now run by the third generation of the founding family. Over that time it has narrowed its focus from general bill collection to the medical sector.

Buyers comparing medical billing and revenue cycle vendors should note that ARS works at the back end of the cycle. It recovers patient balances that have become delinquent rather than submitting insurance claims.

Who They Serve

Most ARS clients are critical access hospitals, mid-sized hospitals, and clinics. Many are in rural areas. The company presents this as a deliberate choice: it prefers smaller and mid-sized facilities and networks over the largest health systems, so each client's accounts get closer attention. It says it understands the financial pressures rural providers face, especially thin operating margins and the need for steady cash flow so they can keep serving their communities.

Services and Capabilities

ARS combines a relationship-based approach with technology meant to make paying easier for patients and reduce the workload on hospital staff. Its offerings include:

• Recovery of delinquent medical accounts and bad debt
• Flexible payment plans and custom arrangements for patients
• A secure online portal where patients can pay
• An automated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) phone system so patients can pay at any hour
• Live collection specialists during business hours
• A standard set of reports that can be customized in content and frequency for each client
• A system for ranking accounts by expected return to the facility
• Consulting and continuing education for healthcare organizations

Approach and Compliance

The firm says its patient-focused, service-minded approach rests on the view that most patients want to settle their bills when given workable options. Its collectors hold the Professional Collection Specialist (PCS) credential, which ACA International awards after training and an exam on the FDCPA and sound collection practices.

ARS also takes part in ACA International's Professional Practices Management System, which requires ongoing review of its operations. Compliance with FDCPA, TCPA, and HIPAA is overseen by in-house legal counsel and a dedicated Chief Compliance Officer. ARS records and monitors calls, tracks keywords that may signal patient concerns, and uses the recordings to coach staff and resolve disputes.

For data protection, it uses layered encryption and hires outside security experts to review its systems.

Background and Affiliations

ARS is active in industry groups. It holds a seat on the council of delegates of ACA International and on the board of directors of the Nebraska Collector Association. The company says these roles keep it up to date on regulatory changes and new practices.

Prospective clients can request a no-obligation call, and the firm is willing to take part in a facility's RFP process. For a small or mid-sized hospital looking for an outside partner to handle bad debt in a way that respects patients and follows the rules, ARS offers long experience, certified staff, and patient-friendly payment options.

Headquartered in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, Magnet Solutions, Inc. specializes in recovering healthcare receivables, concentrating on the portion of the revenue cycle where patients themselves carry the balance after receiving care. Its earliest client was the community hospital in its own hometown, and that partnership has continued for over two decades. The firm now serves medical facilities nationwide.

Organizations evaluating billing vendors should note that its expertise lies in patient-owed amounts and the billing interactions that follow an encounter, rather than in comprehensive coding or the filing of insurance claims.

Core Services

Hospitals and clinics engage Magnet Solutions to take over management of their patient-balance accounts. The firm's approach puts education ahead of collection: patients are first helped to grasp the amount due and the choices available to them, and a request for payment comes afterward.

Central to this model is one unified bill that consolidates charges a patient has accumulated across a provider's hospital, clinic and additional locations. According to the company, this consolidation depends on a process that works regardless of the client's software system. Account representatives field patients' billing inquiries and assist them in resolving what they owe.

• Management of patient-owed balances for hospitals and clinics
• Unified billing statements that span several facilities
• Payment plans and direction on charity and assistance options, built around each client's existing policies
• Round-the-clock payment by phone, with live staff during office hours and an automated line after hours
• Technical support that shields patients from confusion when a provider changes systems
• Instruction for a provider's own employees on collecting at registration and check-in

Client Relationship Model

Prior to taking on a new account, Magnet Solutions develops a Cash-Flow Pro Forma, a projection of the extra dollars it anticipates collecting from the provider's existing patient-balance inventory. That projection then serves as the benchmark against which the firm's results are judged.

Every client receives a baseline reporting package, and both what the reports include and how often they arrive can be tailored. Providers may also monitor collection results as they happen and audit live calls between representatives and patients. In-house developers can design client-specific workflows and automated routines, while the technology team manages secure setup and continuing support.

The company states that it does not pressure providers to reduce their own front-end and patient-balance staff. Rather, it equips those employees with instruction and tools so they can secure more payments before accounts are referred out. Among these tools are a Business Office Training Course and pocket guides for staff who collect at registration and check-in. A Financial Assistance Portal is offered as well.

Company Profile and Qualifications

Magnet Solutions defines its mission as delivering receivables management, advisory services and ongoing education to healthcare organizations. The principles it emphasizes are a focus on clients, integrity, honesty and a friendly manner. For data protection, it brings in independent experts to evaluate its systems. Membership in healthcare and collections trade groups helps the firm track evolving rules and technologies.

It also reports receiving a collections-industry workplace honor for four consecutive years. The leadership team features vice presidents overseeing strategic services, recovery solutions and business development. Executives from Northwest Specialty Hospital and Horizon Health have provided testimonials praising consistent collection results and an easy transition from their prior vendor.

In addition, the firm submits proposals in response to RFPs and RFQs issued by providers seeking to outsource receivables work.