
1 BILLING SERVICES (medical only) Broadly speaking the billing service
entails the performance of all functions relative to the invoicing and
processing of claims. Duvesco also liaises
with medical insurers and patients where necessary to ensure that debtor days
are kept to a minimum. A high rate of efficiency is maintained due to the
simplification and distribution of repetitive tasks in the processing centre. 2 CREDIT MANAGEMENT (medical
only) Clients may choose this service if
they wish to do the billing component themselves, leaving the actual
collections of funds from medical insurers and patients to Duvesco. The credit management service is a very popular
service because it allows the practice to focus on the running of the practice
without getting involved in the arduous and time consuming task of dealing with
debtors and medical funds. 3 CASH FLOW (medical only) The standard agreement describes
this service as a "guarantee of payment" however it is also
informally known as the "cash flow option". In essence Duvesco bridges the outstanding
debtors at the end of every month
irrespective of whether payment was received. For example, if at the end of
month one, the turnover was R500 000 and the payments received amounted to R300
000, Duvesco will pay R200 000 to the practice in the following month and
proceed to collect the outstanding R200 000 from the debtors or medical
insurers. There is a recourse for bad debs,
which allows Duvesco to deduct bad debts from the following payout. Debts are deemed to have become bad after 120
days or the performance of certain actions, whichever occurs first. The result is that Duvesco carries
the book for 120 days and, although it occurs rarely, deducts the bad debts from the payout in the
next accounting cycle. 4 DEBT GUARANTEE (medical
only) This option allows the practice to
have peace of mind about bad debts. Duvesco guarantees the turnover of the practice and takes a cession of
the irrecoverable debts without recourse. In other words, Duvesco pays out the turnover and takes responsibility
for the bad debts by taking a cession of the claims and collecting at its own
risk. 5 COLLECTIONS The collections department
consists of an in-house call centre and pre-legal department. To avoid
unnecessary legal costs all debtors are processed through a soft process, which
is gradually toughened until handed over to the legal department. The collections service consists of a number
of sub-services such as data validation, scoring, call recordings, tracing,
debit order facilities, credit card payments, web reports and on-line tracking
(for clients). One aspect should be
understood. Collections are not done on
the basis that the client assumes any risk or legal costs. The principle
applied here is "no success no
fee". The fee due to Duvesco is
deducted from receipts from the debtors. 6 LITIGATION When all avenues have been exhausted, and provided a
matter can be pursued profitably, it is handed to the legal department. The
legal department may issue a summons or persuade the debtor to consent to
judgement and generally enforces judgements through emolument attachment
orders. Duvesco does not outsource
matters to attorneys, as most companies do, it performs those functions in-house.
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