Collecting Your Fee: Legal, Ethical and Practical Considerations

Credit Details
This electronically delivered self-instructional program is designated for 1.5 hours of CE credit by Farran Media.
AGD Code: 555.

The fee to view this course is $36. This cost includes the fee to take the exam and claim your CE credits.

Synopsis:
Money and ethics often conflict. But being effective in collecting what you are owed is not in conflict with being ethical. There is nothing unethical about charging a fair fee, rendering competent services, and collecting your fee. This lecture explores issues that impact on fee collection efforts from legal, practical, and ethical perspectives. The legal nuances associated with fee collections and the process for terminating nonpaying patients from your practice will be discussed.

We will divide the lecture into three sections. Section one will deal with the groundwork every office needs to have in place in order to effectively address overdue accounts. This will include the patient information sheet and the patient contract as well as the in-office protocol that needs to be ready before any collection effort is contemplated.

Section two will discuss the actual collection effort. We will review the difference between collection letters and collection calls and evaluate the effectiveness of each method. We will go over suggested collection letters, culminating in the definitive collection letter—a patient dismissal letter. We will discuss collection agencies. You will understand what your responsibilities to the patient are as well as the obligations the patient has towards your office.

Section three will explore the ethical issues that come to bear in a fee collection effort. Participants will understand that professionalism and ethics requires vigorous and consistent collection efforts.

Educational Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

• Make the office staff aware of the legal, practical and ethical issues that surround efforts to collect overdue accounts
• Understand federal laws and guidelines as they relate to debt collection
• Understand how to institute an effective fee-collection effort
• Understand the ethical issues that impact on fee-collection efforts

Description of Speaker:
Dr. Ploumis is an orthodontist, an Associate Clinical Professor of Orthodontics and Risk Management at New York University, and an attorney admitted to practice law in New York and New Jersey. He limits his legal practice to issues surrounding the practice of dentistry with an emphasis on practice transitions, employment issues and defense of allegations of professional misconduct.

Disclosure:
Dr. Ploumis declares having received an honorarium from Dentaltown for this lecture.

Legal Disclaimer:
The CE provider (Farran Media) uses reasonable care in selecting and providing content that is accurate. The CE provider, however, does not independently verify the content or materials. The CE provider does not represent that the instructional materials are error-free or that the content or materials are comprehensive. Any opinions expressed in the materials are those of the author of the materials and not the CE provider. Completing one or more continuing education courses does not provide sufficient information to qualify the participant as an expert in the field related to the course topic or in any specific technique or procedure. The instructional materials are intended to supplement, but are not a substitute for, the knowledge, expertise, skill and judgment of a trained health care professional.

Licensure:
Continuing education credits issued for completion of online CE courses may not apply toward license renewal in all licensing jurisdictions. It is the responsibility of each registrant to verify the CE requirements of his/her licensing or regulatory agency.

State CE Requirements:
Click Here for CE requirements by state. Please note that this information is current as of the time of listing. This information is subject to change at any time from the state boards. For the most up-to-date information, please contact your state board directly.

Refund Policy
There are no refunds for Online CE courses. Please contact technical support if you run into technical difficulty.

CE Contact
For any questions, please contact Nareg Apelian, DMD, Director of Continuing Education at nareg@farranmedia.com