To create a winning formula for a compassionate and empathetic approach to the collections’ process, Allison Johnson, Training & Development Manager at IC System, knows the secret is in training. A well trained and developed team of collection representatives are the backbone of any collection agency, and Johnson was excited to share her approach.

“Our main priority is making sure that the new hires have a solid understanding of the importance of compliance and quality,” Johnson said. “With the collection agency being so regulated, its important new hires understand that we’re handling private consumer information. And we also want to provide an excellent consumer experience, so focusing on quality and compliance are our main priorities.”

To achieve these quality and compliance results, IC System developed an online e-learning platform to roll out different interactive lessons for the representatives to stay engaged while training. There’s plenty of hands-on training in addition to the online tools.

Before the COVID-19, pandemic representatives in training could shadow right next to another representative. “That side-by-side training was critical for them to get a good grasp of the type of calls that they’re going to be handling,” Johnson said. “But with social distancing, we haven’t been able to do that, so we got creative with our team and came up with the virtual shadowing program. We use Microsoft Teams to get this done. Our tenured reps can hop on a Microsoft Teams call and share their screen so the new hires can look at the account that they are working on. The representatives can hear the consumer and the other representative speak on that phone call.” The ability to find creative solutions to crises is part of what makes Johnson’s training and development strategies successful.

For more information, visit https://www.icsystem.com/.

A healthy and prosperous collection agency needs a recovery management software solution that can put it one step ahead of the competition.

Karen Jonas, Senior Vice President of Field Sales for IC System, and Thom Majka, Director of Business Development, DebtNext discussed the partnership between the collection agency and software platform provider and how this bond makes success at IC System possible.

“DebtNext software is a platform, a recovery management platform, that brings technology into the credit and collection industries,” Majka said. “Within the industry, we’re a leading application that allows us to manage every aspect of account placement securely and recoveries of accounts receivable.”

“It’s nice to have DebtNext as the middleware company,” Jonas said. “We have about 20 clients that we partner with, and with that, we can work any tier, we can get scorecards, and we know where we are for performance. We do reconciliations every month, so we have the correct balances. That’s an advantage. The invoice is automatic through DebtNext. There are so many great things in partnering with them, and it allows us to focus on collections.”

Majka recommended that collection agencies work with multiple vendors and review numerous strategies.

“We have conversations with our clients to make sure they are working with organizations that bring about the best people and the best systems and processes,” Majka said.

And, with competition increasing in the debt collection industry over the past five years, healthy relationships and striving for the best in all areas may very well be the advantage that separates a thriving agency from the rest.

For more information, visit https://www.icsystem.com/.

Michelle Dove wears a lot of different hats as a General Counsel and Compliance Officer for IC System. She provides legal advice on many issues that might face the company. Dove shared her thoughts and experiences on compliance and risk management challenges in a collection agency setting.

For more information, visit https://www.icsystem.com/.

On the newest episode of Closing the Books, a podcast by IC System - expert in all things debt collection - host Gabrielle Bejarano chats with President and CEO of IC System, John Erickson, about the challenges of debt collection for the previous years, rolling into 2023. The two discuss...

1) The impact the past few years of consumers’ ability to repay debts has had on the business and IC System’s solutions to these challenges

2) How IC System has outperformed its competitors using new communication systems despite the consumer payment issue

3) What challenges the collection industry will have moving into 2023 and how IC System is well positioned to navigate these challenges

“For our clients in 2023, it’s going to be important for us to continue to use analytics, continue to use modelling and employ these new tools we have smartly . . . always measuring ourselves against the competition,” said Erickson.

Erickson started his career at IC System as a collector, 26 years ago. Erickson has helped grow IC System into the company that it is today and was awarded the Vistage Minnesota IMPACT award in 2017.

IC System has over 85 years of experience in medical and dental debt collection, rent recovery and other business collections. For more information, visit https://www.icsystem.com/.

On this episode of Closing the Books, host Gabrielle Bejarano speaks with T.J. Lee, Director of Operations at IC System. Lee wears many hats at IC System, so he knows a thing or two about debt collection challenges and how inflation has impacted collection agencies. “Coming out of the pandemic, it’s definitely been challenging. Says Lee. “(During the pandemic), people were paying down old debts because they had that disposable income to do so, but I think . . . after being cooped up for a couple years, people want to get out . . . They want to go travel, they want to have fun, they want to go to restaurants or concerts, and all that stuff costs more money, and . . . more importantly, your basic needs are costing more, too.”This episode covers these issues and more, including:

• How regulation has impacted the way collection agencies work.
• Changes in how collection agencies interact with consumers.
• How IC System leverages its extensive 85 years of experience to navigate through change effectively.

Regarding how inflation changes consumer behavior, Lee added “with interest rates being higher out there for mortgages and things like that, there isn’t as much pressure for the consumers to be as concerned about their credit scores, because they’re not taking out as many loans.” In a landscape where consumers are less aware of their credit standing, collection agencies have to keep up with changing habits and adapt to new regulations as they get implemented.

T.J. Lee is the Director of Operations at IC System. Having been at the company for over nine years, he was previously a Supervisor and Operations Manager at IC System. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration from North Dakota State University.

Consumer debt is steadily climbing due to trends such as pandemic recovery (e.g., rent recouperation), fear of recession, healthcare (e.g., pushing more healthcare costs onto patients), and other current trends. Smaller businesses will be impacted more due to their lack of resources and training to collect this increased debt.

In a new episode of the podcast "Closing the Books," host Eric Johannes interviewed Lee Brockney, General Manager of Main Street Recoveries at IC System. The two talked about how IC System used innovation and 85 years of debt recovery experience to create their new offering, InstiCollect, which is aimed at helping small businesses with less than 50 monthly debts quickly and easily get started on recovering their outstanding revenue.

Johannes and Brockney also discussed:

• Organizations such as Dental, Health and Rent Recovery that would benefit from using InstiCollect
• How clients can start collecting debts in about 15 minutes
• How IC System automated tools and online aids make it easy to learn the platform quickly

"InstiCollect is a brand-new product here at IC System… Essentially, it is a standardized, streamlined, all-in-one collection product… What we've done is take the most productive IC processes found across multiple IC product lines and package them into one simple-to-use product that really can have our clients live and submitting debts within minutes of making the decision to buy," said Brockney.

Lee Brockney is the General Manager of Main Street Recoveries at IC System. He's held several roles at IC System over his almost 20-year tenure, with advancing responsibilities. IC System has over 85 years of experience in medical and dental debt collection, rent recovery and other business collections.

For more information, visit https://www.icsystem.com/.

On the newest episode of Closing the Books, a podcast by IC System, IC System's Bart Shea, VP of Client Development shares his personal journey in the industry, his passion for the HFMA, and his debt collection industry insights with host Gabrielle Bejarano.

The two discuss...

1) Shea’s journey in the collections industry

2) Why participation in the HFMA is so important

3) Where Shea sees debt recovery going in 2023 and beyond

“It’s near and dear to my heart with making sure that our industry is up to speed on the changes in healthcare, whether that be from a compliance standpoint or just an actionable standpoint...but I think that the HFMA is truly one of the good vehicles that us as service providers...can actually have really good conversations with prospects that attend HFMA shows,” said Shea. Shea, VP of Client Development at IC System, has been with the company for over two years as the VP of Client Development. He holds over two decades of experience in healthcare receivables management and previously spent time as the VP of Client Development - West for MedAssist and the National Director of Client Development for RevSolve, Inc. He is a HFMA Certified Revenue Cycle Representative (CRCR) and current President of the HFMA Arizona Chapter.

IC System has over 85 years of experience in medical and dental debt collection, rent recovery and other business collections. For more information, visit https://www.icsystem.com/.

With the growing world of healthcare and rapidly changing federal, national, and local regulations, it's a priority that healthcare professionals and facilities stay up-to-date on current industry trends, particularly as it pertains to debt and finances. That is the fundamental purpose of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, or HFMA.

In this episode of the podcast "Closing the Books," host Gabrielle Bejarano interviewed Mary Prendergast, the VP of Business Development at IC System, who is also the president of the Virginia-Washington, D.C., Chapter of HFMA. The two talked about what the HFMA does, how the pandemic impacted healthcare costs, and why the HFMA is a beneficial organization to the healthcare industry.

Bejarano and Prendergast also discussed:

1. Educational opportunities HFMA offers to help healthcare professionals better understand changes in the industry

2. Why HFMA is a driving force in shaping healthcare systems today

3. How HFMA benefits individual member’s careers

"What the HFMA does, it really sets an industry standard for healthcare today—really more so in reimbursement and finance. What's going on today in healthcare is very difficult with labor costs, labor shortages, and staffing. What's really hot today is value-based care and price transparency and then technology,” said Prendergast.

In addition to helping members keeping up-to-date, applying changing rules and regulations to revenue collection efforts is key. Continues Prendergast “In order to survive and get reimbursed and keep your lights on and a roof over your head, you have to be reimbursed, whether from the patient or the payers, which are the insurance companies. They have to pay you, and it takes a team of experts to make sure that they're coding and getting reimbursed for all of this. They also use, again, a lot of technology partners to make sure they're getting real-time estimation on cost and reimbursement."

Mary Prendergast is the VP of Business Development at IC System. For the past two years, she has served as president of the HFMA Virginia-Washington DC Chapter, which has approximately 3,000 members out of the national 90,000. She is also a graduate of Radford University.

IC System has over 85 years of experience in medical and dental debt collection, rent recovery and other business collections. For more information, visit https://www.icsystem.com/.

IC System, a family-owned and nationally recognized debt collection agency with 85 years of experience, can effectively help you recover revenue and ease your accounts receivable burden. Whether you're a first-time client or have previously worked with other agencies, IC System simplifies the process of sending accounts to collections.

On today's episode of Closing The Books, host Eric Johannes speaks with Nate Welbig, Director of Operations at IC System, about his journey to a career in collections and how IC System’s core values of Innovation, People, Integrity, Performance and Pride are demonstrated within the organization.

The two discuss

1. General public impressions/misimpressions about debt collection

2. How IC System uses innovation and its people to continually evolve and perform

3. Why Tax season and maintaining good debtor relations are important

"From the operations standpoint . . . it is a little different today, different resources different tools, regulations have changed" said Nate Welbig. IC System continually innovates and trains its employees to stay current with, and take advantage of, these changes.

Nate Welbig, Director of Operations at IC System, graduated from the University of St Paul, Minnesota, United States. He has been with IC System for 14 years now. He is always driving innovation of debt collection infrastructure and supporting employees to ensure the company performs at a consistently high level.

IC System has over 85 years of experience in medical and dental debt collection, rent recovery and other business collections. For more information, visit https://www.icsystem.com/.

IC System, a family-owned and nationally recognized debt collection agency with 85 years of experience, can effectively help you recover revenue and ease your accounts receivable burden. Whether you're a first-time client or have previously worked with other agencies, we simplify the process of sending accounts to collections.

On today's episode of Closing The Books, host Eric Johannes speaks with Nate Welbig, Director of Operations at IC System, about his journey to a career in collections and how IC System’s core values of Innovation, People, Integrity, Performance and Pride are demonstrated within the organization.

The two discuss

• General public impressions/misimpressions about debt collection

• How IC System uses innovation and its people to continually evolve and perform

• Why Tax season and maintaining good debtor relations are important

IC System has over 85 years of experience in medical and dental debt collection, rent recovery and other business collections. For more information, visit https://www.icsystem.com/.