You are a clinic manager and have been approached by the CFO regarding the clinic's accounts receivable rate. The overall billing for the practice has not increased, even though an additional physician was hired 6 months ago and has increased the number of patients seen during that time. You remember that a couple of staff members retired about six months ago. They were performing administrative functions such as coding and billing, and they were replaced with new-hire staff. Would this personnel shift have anything to do with accounts receivable problems? You also note that the new physician had very little training and was expected to come on board quickly because of a new account recently acquired by the clinic.

the manager, what might your next few steps be? How would you investigate this problem? Think about what we learned this week or draw from personal experience and tie that into the topics covered. If it turns out to be a problem with incorrect billing practices by the new administrative staff members, what could be the possible repercussions? Have you ever seen a similar problem on the job? How was it handled?