First Credit Services Acquires American Healthcare Outsourcing Alternatives

First Credit Services (FCS), an established leader in the Accounts Receivables Management Industry recently acquired American Healthcare Outsourcing Alternatives (AHOA) out of Midland, GA. This important acquisition bolsters the already thriving Healthcare sector within FCS’ current operation. Raj Chhabria (CEO of First Credit Services) stated “This transaction fits in perfectly with our business strengths as both organizations have a long track record as innovators by going the extra mile when it comes to outstanding patient service and compliance.  Our growth plans within the healthcare market are a major focus of our growing business, and this acquisition is coming at the perfect time as we continue to establish a new trend in how collection agencies treat patients. We take a lot of pride in how we operate, and we have always been big fans of AHOA and how they have also made a positive impact on the healthcare community.”

 

AHOA focuses exclusively on Healthcare with core strengths that include First Party Self-Pay, Insurance Follow-up and Bad Debt Collections. AHOA is located close to Fort Benning in Columbus GA, and has successfully built their entire operation around the core value of giving back to United States Veterans by providing good paying jobs to the Military and their immediate families.  This mission has proven to be a very successful business model and First Credit Services will continue to support and grow the operation and offer even more jobs to our valued and appreciated American Service Men and Women. Fred Landrum, (a Vietnam-era veteran and former CEO of AHOA) will stay on with FCS as Vice President of Healthcare Services to help support existing and future FCS/AHOA Customers.

 

Integrating the AHOA operations into the FCS system is already under way, and all AHOA customers are being welcomed into the First Credit Services community.  Raj goes on to say “We could not be more excited about this great partnership with AHOA, and welcome all of the great AHOA Employees and Customers with open arms.”

Taking a "Different" Look at the Collection Process

Check out page 63 of the January issue of Club Solutions Magazine...

Legal Collections and Attorney Letters are way too much!

Gym Collections

It’s kind of like using a sledge hammer on a thumb tack. Yeah, it gets the job done, but the collateral damage is unnecessary and causes more harm than good.  In an industry where the lifeblood of your future revenue depends solely on how you are perceived within your local community, do you really believe a member who owes you for a past-due amount of only $100-200 truly deserves to feel threatened by a law firm.  It is widely known that consumers truly believe they are being sued when an attorney letter pops up in their mail box, when in reality a lawsuit is never even considered by the firm that sent the letter (It just would not be cost-effective to file suit).  

The alternative is to partner with a collection agency who has your best interests in mind (an agency with a lot of experience in health & fitness), and cares about your future reputation.  Look, consumers know that if they fail to pay a bill on time, there are repercussions for their delinquency, and generally speaking it is understandable if a collection agency chooses to report the unpaid balance on the consumer’s Credit Bureau Report.  The collection tactic that works best is to simply appeal to the consumers’ good nature and simply inform them of their obligation to fulfill the contract they signed…, and try to work with the member and get them back into the gym…, not threaten to sue them!

Yes, there is a time and place for a collection attorney, but it’s not on balances that fall below $1,000. It is overkill, and you will see the negative impact after the damage is done, and it’s too late.

Professionalism and common sense always prevail.

Learn more about First Credit Services, and their professional Collection Approach which is geared toward Member Engagement, and maintaining a very positive reputation for everyone involved. Maybe that’s why we maintain a perfect A+ Rating with the Better Business Bureau…

PCI-DSS Compliance

Tell me. How important is PCI Compliance  to your organization?

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a proprietary information security for organizations that handle branded credit cards from the major card schemes including Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover and JCB.

The PCI Standard is mandated by the card brands and administered by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards.  The standard was created to increase controls around cardholder data to reduce credit card fraud. Validation of compliance is performed annually, either by an external Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) that creates a Report on Compliance (ROC) for organizations handling large volumes of transactions.

Data Security through PCI Compliance is probably one of the most important attributes to consider when selecting a business partner who accesses your consumer’s data. Having Compliance processes in place are very important, but until an organization goes through an extensive audit, there are definitely going to be major gaps.

My recommendation is to contact a QSA right away and get started on your PCI Compliance Certification.

What do you think?

First Credit Services will be attending the 2016 Fitness Leaders Summit

www.firstcreditonline.com
Fitness Leaders Summit 2016 is going to be held at the Reunion Resort in Orlando, FL. The event will be held on March 18-19, the weekend leading up to IHRSA 2016.  So, if you are planning on attending IHRSA this year, this is a more intimate setting for some smaller regional health & fitness organizations. If you are looking for more in-depth industry knowledge from some of the most influential fitness industry veterans, here is your chance to be part of something exciting.

Learn more about the event produced by Fitness Leaders Alliance: http://summit.fitnessleadersalliance.com/

See you there!

About First Credit Services and FCSBPO

First Credit Services was established in 1993 as an A/R Management and Collection Company servicing several different industries including Health & Fitness, Healthcare, Auto Finance, Insurance, Utility, Direct Marketing, Education, and more.

We offer all phases of Decline Management, Billing, Collections, in a fully compliant and customer service oriented environment. We employ a large staff of experts who are trained in the most up-to-date forms of communication and strategy. 

FCS offers a very secure infrastructure including an off-site (State-of-the-Art) Data Center interconnecting our 3 strategic call center locations.  We are SOC2 Type II Certified and PCI-DSS Level 1 Complaint.

Our First Party (Outsourcing) Group offers clients a way to cut costs and rely on FCS to watch over all Staffing, Technology, Compliance, Reporting, Procedures, Customer Service, Auditing, Quality Control/Assurance, Call Monitoring, Strategy, and more to ensure best-in-class results coupled with a fully compliant solution.

Our Dashboard and CRM Tools link seamlessly with our client's current software offering a seamless integration between our staff and yours.

learn more about our services at

Health & Fitness: www.firstcreditonline.com

Healthcare: www.healthcarecollect.org

First Party and Outsourcing: www.fcsbpo.com

Government: www.municipalcollect.com

Other Industries: www.artechonline.com