ACA Cast

On this episode of ACA Cast, host Kim Coghill, vice president of communications for ACA International, leads a discussion with Irene Hoheusle, vice president of collections and education with Account Recovery Specialists in Wichita, Kansas, and Tim Haag, president of State Collection Service in Madison, Wisconsin, on all things health care collections. 

Hoheusle and Haag revisit trends and explore new issues in health care collections following their 2019 ACA International Fall Forum & Expo presentation on some of the same topics.

On today’s episode of ACA Cast: Managing Industry Operations in 2020, host Alex Szeto checks in with regular guests Mike Ginsberg, president and CEO of Kaulkin Ginsberg, and John Hannan, the company’s research analyst. 

Ginsberg and Hannan revisit financial services industry trends to watch this year on the operations side as well as national economic changes in inflation, employment rates and mergers and acquisitions.

Conferences and trade shows in the accounts receivable management industry are extremely valuable learning and networking opportunities for your company, if you make the most of these events. “One of the questions that keeps coming up from executives and future leaders in the industry is about budgeting and getting ready for which events to go to in 2020,” Lamm said on the latest episode of “Leadership Fuel with Michael Lamm” featured on ACA Cast. 

Tune in to “Leadership Fuel with Michael Lamm” to hear more about the value of in-person and online learning, especially for industry up-and-comers, and how to use the information learned going forward. 

During the latest episode of ACA Cast, ACA International's Vice President and Senior Counsel, Federal Advocacy, Leah Dempsey, Federal Advocacy Manager Patrick Russell and Lauren Valenzuela, compliance counsel at Performant Recovery Inc., discuss the CFPB’s proposed FDCPA rule and areas that should be improved upon so as not to create arbitrary barriers to moving forward with the use of newer technologies such as email.

In a new episode of ACA Cast, Leslie Bender, IFCCE, CCCO, chief strategy officer and general counsel for BCA Financial Services, and Debra Ciskey, IFCCE, executive vice president of The Collections Coach LLC, share practical tips on how to create a truly effective call auditing program. They touch on how to build rubrics, structure call calibration sessions, evaluate related data and more.

Call audits can give you a lot of critical information about your company, including the competence of your trainers, the quality of the accounts placed with you for collection, and your collectors’ skills and compliance with your performance expectations.

State legislative bodies are returning to work this week for their 2020 sessions, which during an election year likely means a balance between politics and policies, according to Andrew Madden, ACA International’s vice president of state and government affairs, on the latest episode of ACA Cast: Forecasting State Level Politics in an Election Year. Madden, in discussion with producer Alex Szeto, discusses these topics and more on ACA Cast: Forecasting State Level Politics in an Election Year.

When consumers have a great experience with your company, do you make a note of it? Kenlyn Gretz, president and CEO of AmeriCollect Inc., does, and he uses that feedback to recognize employees for their good work, train staff and promote his company culture of Ridiculously Nice Collections.

AmeriCollect is a health-care-focused accounts receivable management company based in Wisconsin that helps people understand their often-complex medical bills. Anne Rosso May, managing editor of Collector magazine, spoke with Gretz on a recent episode of ACA Cast to learn more about how his company tracks consumer satisfaction levels and uses that information to continually make the company even better.

ACA International’s Vice President and Senior Counsel of Federal Advocacy Leah Dempsey and Mark Brennan, partner at Hogan Lovells US LLP in Washington, D.C. discuss the ins and outs of the legislation and ACA’s advocacy efforts on a new episode of ACA Cast. Dempsey and Brennan also discuss potential impacts on the industry in the future now that the TRACED Act is a law.

Tune in to this comprehensive episode of ACA Cast for a recap of ACA’s advocacy with the TRACED Act, how we got here, and where do we go from here. 

Patrick Russell hopes to be a source of outreach and education for legislators and regulators as part of ACA International’s team headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Russell, ACA’s new federal advocacy manager, talked about his role with Communications Specialist Katy Zillmer on the latest episode of ACA Cast.

Tune in to learn about Russell’s career, advocacy and plans to help expand ACA’s work with regulators and legislators on behalf of the accounts receivable management industry and members.

Russell may be reached by email at [email protected] and watch for updates on how to work with Russell and ACA’s entire advocacy team during the Washington Insights Fly-In in May 2020 in your email inbox.

While the impact of litigation on the accounts receivable management industry cannot be underestimated or ignored, sometimes it is extremely difficult to maintain a watchful eye on all of the courts across the country. In an episode of ACA Cast titled, “What We Followed in Court,” ACA International compliance officers Laura Dadd and Andrew Pavlik highlight a few influential rulings handed down in 2019.

Tune in  to hear important facts about significant cases including Lavallee v. Med-1 Solutions LLC, and the CBE Group Inc. and RGS Financial Inc. v. Lexington Law Firm and Progrexion Inc.  To read about the top 10 cases of 2019, check out correspondent Tim Dressen’s article in the December issue Collector magazine. ACA Cast and Collector may be accessed on ACA’s website at www.acainternational.org. Collector is also available in print via U.S. mail.