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How healthcare organizations can stay compliant under Reg F in 2022

Mar 30, 2022

How healthcare organizations can stay compliant under Reg F in 2022

Reg F: What’s at stake, and how to stay compliant

The passing of Reg F completely reshaped the way that debt collection agencies are allowed to communicate with consumers. New guardrails and reporting laws around means of communication, opt-outs, and more require robust procedural changes for both healthcare organizations and their debt collection agencies.

Related: What healthcare organizations need to know about Reg F and No Surprises

These regulations can spell trouble for healthcare organizations that haven’t invested in billing procedures and IT infrastructures for collection. Without these measures, healthcare organizations will find themselves at risk for increased burnout, increased instances of consumer dispute cases, and loss of revenue.

What does Reg F say?

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) underpins Reg F. Because the FDCPA hadn’t been updated since 1977, it needed to be updated to reflect the varied ways that debt collectors are able to communicate with debtors. Now, guidelines around the use of text messages, voicemails, and emails mean that collectors have clear guidelines around how to communicate through new channels.

Another update to Reg F includes the necessity to disclose more information to assist consumers in recognizing the debt, a detailed breakdown of the components of the debt, and other details. This information must come from the creditors with the placement of an account or batch of accounts.

Want a detailed breakdown of what the prior notices looked like under Reg F, and what new notices are now required to include? Watch our on-demand webinar.

What Reg F means for healthcare organizations.

Before, debt collection largely fell on the collectors, and not the healthcare organizations. This all changes with the passing of Reg F. Reg F now requires healthcare organizations to be more involved in 3rd party debt collection because the collectors are now required to provide more robust and detailed information to the debtor at the outset of collections.

Healthcare organizations using a 3rd party debt collector have general oversight responsibilities to ensure that revenue collection services are compliant with the changes to Reg F.

If you’re interested in learning more about what the changes to Reg F mean for you and your healthcare organization, check out our live webinar. Our compliance experts have broken down what Reg F says, what’s at stake, and simple ways to add more compliance safeguards to your daily billing practices.

Watch the free on-demand webinar here!

Two tips for staying compliant under Reg F

1. Understand the heart of the changes.

Thoroughly understanding what these changes mean is critical to compliance. If you’ve read the regulations and are part of the 60% of providers that don’t feel confident in their understanding of these new rules, consider tuning into our free live webinar.

2. Choose your itemization carefully.

Five itemization dates are set out in Reg F. Using the “date of last statement” (instead of date of service) will minimize the number-crunching needed to state the current amount due.

Want to learn more tips, straight from compliance experts? Watch our free on-demand webinar.

Karie Bostwick

VP of People and Compliance

As VP of People and Compliance at Revenue Enterprises, Karie Bostwick oversees People functions including recruiting, training, onboarding, engagement and satisfaction. Additionally, she is responsible for compliance training, oversight and monitoring.

Karie has a long history of working in the revenue cycle support industry. Her skills span leadership, operations start up, policies and procedures development, operations workflow, budgeting and client management.

She is passionate about the experience of our people, patients and the Healthcare clients we serve and believes that a team of diverse, talented and motivated individuals working together toward a common goal can make a difference.

Robert Sterett

VP of Information Technology

As a transformational leader Robert Sterrett has leveraged his 20 years of experience to build effective service lines and exceptional teams. In his role as VP of Information Technology at Revenue Enterprises, Robert excels at taking a unique, balanced, and strategic approach to technology leadership with people first for the best possible outcome. Using his experience from engineering, project management and service line management he takes a multi-faceted approach to ensure the right people are in the correct position coupled with the best technology to meet or exceed all expectations from security to compliance and business continuity.

Robert’s leadership style lends itself to building long term relationships and has consistently been a relied upon strength in many organizations. Over Robert’s time as an IT operational and project leader, he has spent significant time in both hands-on technology facing roles and client centric management roles to bring the best solutions that strive to meet the business and client needs.

Focusing heavily on his personal development skills and opportunities, Robert continues to foster coaching and mentorship relationships everywhere in his life, and the lives around him.

Douglas Dunbar

VP of Sales & Marketing

As VP of Sales and Marketing for Revenue Enterprises, Douglas Dunbar leads with a passion for building strategic partnerships, nurturing relationships, and upholding customer service excellence. In his role, Doug focuses on marketing and brand strategy, sales team leadership, and working closely with members of the management team to best serve company goals.

Doug has over 28 years of National sales and marketing call/contact center leadership, with 10 years of service specifically at Revenue Enterprises. Currently, Doug serves as part of Wyoming HFMA Chapter leadership and has held various roles in Colorado HFMA Chapter leadership for over 9 years.

In his spare time, Doug is very family oriented. Additionally, he loves traveling, cycling, golfing, fishing, hunting, and boating.

Kris Brumley, MBA

SVP/COO

As SVP/COO of Revenue Enterprises, Kris Brumley is a collaborative partner within the executive team and a leader for operational functions across the organization. Kris productively shares vision, drives innovation, and supports those around her in a way that elevates them and fosters continuous improvement and results. She has helped create a supportive environment for clients resulting in 98% client retention and a 65% NPS score for all clients and 75% for top clients by revenue.

Kris possesses an MBA in data analytics and has twenty-five years of experience in the healthcare industry, with 19 specifically in revenue cycle. She brings a wealth of customer service experience to her role and has worn many hats at Revenue Enterprises including Director of Business Development, EBO Division Director, and VP of Client Experience Management.

In her personal life, Kris is as busy outside of work as inside. She values spending time with her family, and enjoys fishing, hiking, traveling and interior decorating and design.

Timothy (Tim) Brainerd

CEO

As CEO of Revenue Enterprises for almost 20 years, Tim Brainerd leads by example. He promotes a shared vision and stewards a culture of Integrity, Passion, and Respect. He has assembled and empowered high-performing talent and teams to support customers, facilitate strategic planning and manage the capital of the company. Under his leadership, Revenue Enterprises has doubled in size three times over the past fifteen years while maintaining a culture of caring and gratefulness.

Tim has close to four decades of revenue cycle experience, including nineteen years with RSI
Enterprises. He has been a past president of Colorado Chapter of the HFMA and a presenting speaker on the topic of Leadership. He is a fifteen-year member of Vistage International, the world’s largest CEO coaching and peer advisory organization for small and midsize business leaders.

Raised in the Midwest, Tim values humble principles like being respectful, caring, passionate, self-reliant, and most importantly grateful. His most important lesson and the lesson he hopes to pass on in all relationships is living the Golden Rule–do unto others as you would have them do unto you. He is intentional in his choices and believes in making decisions, taking action, being accountable, and loving your neighbors.

Whenever possible, Tim spends his time with his wife of nearly forty years, his adult children, and his grandchildren. His hobbies include fishing, golfing, traveling as well as game nights and sharing great food with his family.