Job Description of a Credit Collector for Medical Billing

by Kristine Tucker Google

Medical credit collectors are agents who collect medical payments from patients who have received services but have not paid their bills. Some medical collectors are employees of the hospital or doctor's office, but many work for private firms that hire out their services to medical facilities. Credit collectors have the difficult job of confronting patients about their overdue medical bills.


Medical collectors must research and find patients who have out-of-date addresses and expired contact information. Transient, unemployed and dislocated individuals may have temporary addresses or phone numbers that are no longer usable. A credit collector uses the Internet, previous housing records, family contacts and credit bureaus to hunt down patients who are overdue on their medical bills. Most research is conducted online, but some medical collectors make telephone calls to employers and landlords to try to locate delinquent patients.


Credit collectors inform patients about their overdue bills, usually by telephone, and follow up on written or email correspondence about delinquency. Laws require collectors to verify that they're talking to the debtor before they state their intention to collect on a bill. Medical collectors must also provide a statement, called a “mini-Miranda,” to let the patient know that they're speaking with collector, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website.


Patients may not have the money to pay their medical bills, so a credit collector negotiates a reasonable payment plan. Repayment plans are designed to maximize the amount a medical facility receives, without compromising the patient's ability to pay. Medical collectors discuss employment, income, debt and expenses with over-extended patients to find a payment plan that satisfies both parties. Once an agreement is reached, the collector follows up to make sure the debtor is making payments consistently.

Customer Relations

Sometimes a patient may refuse to pay hospital or medical bills, claiming she received ineffective treatment. In some cases, patients received sufficient medical care and uses poor treatment as an excuse not to pay. However, some patients may have received substandard services and refuse to pay, possibly under the advice of a lawyer. It isn't a medical collector's job to debate with patients over treatment, according to an article in the "Health Care Collector" newsletter. They should instruct the patient to contact the medical facility directly and let her employer know about the patient's complaints and refusal to pay.

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