Falck Ambulance shortens their billing cycle by six months

Creating forms quickly and easily with PandaDoc made all the difference.

Intro

As the world’s leading ambulance operator with 100+ years of experience, Falck manages more than 3,000 ambulance and patient transportation vehicles in 26 countries. Their purpose: Advance sustainable healthcare to meet people’s changing needs. 

The problem

Charisse Jacobs, IT Support at Falck Ambulance, was in a bind with regard to the company’s billing.

“We were having a problem with these documents,” she said. “Typically, we were looking at about nine months to actually get these forms completed by our patients, so we could bill their Medicare providers.” 

“When you’re an emergency provider, you stabilize patients and get them to the hospital. We don’t have a lot of time to communicate with them. We’re always behind the eight ball with regard to getting their information, because our main priority is to save their lives.” Charisse Jacobs, IT Support at Falck Ambulance,

At one time, Falck had nine billing centers, and each one did things a little differently. Jacobs stated, “Some people never even sent out bills at all. They just used a service that called people twice if they didn’t pay. They went to collections, and that was it.”

According to her, it would take up to nine months to obtain patients’ information. Letters were sent regularly. Stress levels were high on all sides.

“There are a lot of elderly patients that we provide services to, and the majority of insurances that we bill are Medicare and their affiliates,” Jacobs said.

“So you’re dealing with a lot of older people who get frustrated when it doesn’t make any sense to them.”

As a result of these inefficiencies, ​​1,000 to 2,000 forms a month were returned. An unhealthy billing situation needed to change quickly.

The solution

Thanks to PandaDoc, Falck’s billing processes went from disconnected to automated, resulting in a multitude of positive outcomes. Jacobs was elated.

“We sent forms to insurance a lot faster. And the sooner you get to Medicare the better your chances of getting paid. Plus, you have more time to collect the balance from the patient. The form we now send out using PandaDoc to collect insurance is probably the most successful one to date. They’re embedded on our website, and when we send out text messages, the form link is right there.”

Jacobs is also impressed by how simple PandaDoc makes the entire form process from creation to completion.

“I can click on the link, fill out the form, and then I’m done. That’s the way I pitched it to management. Then, she noted the major difference in pricing between us and our top competitor. With PandaDoc, we were able to get the numbers down to between $10,000 and $12,000 per year for up to 7,500 envelopes. For the same amount of envelopes, DocuSign was going to charge us $100,000.”

In addition to championing our ease of use and affordability, she thinks of working with PandaDoc as a partnership.

“For me, that’s really a big deal,” said Jacobs. “I always felt like your vendor is your partner because when everyone works together you can all be successful.”

The results

Falck shortened the time they get paid through insurance companies by six months. Jacobs is impressed with how easy PandaDoc made it for them.

“I can give other reps access to be able to grab it, someone else can work on it, and we can stay on top of things,” she said. “That was one thing I needed, a fail-safe and I feel like I have it here.” 

Jacobs continued, “I also like the option that when I’m looking for documents, I can search by invoice number and email address. All in one centralized location.”

Furthermore, she was so inspired by the significant improvements in billing, other forms were added to the mix. These include record requests, refund requests, and complaint forms. 

“I expected it to be a means to an end, but I didn’t expect them (billing) to go in and feel empowered by seeing forms go out and having the patients respond right back. I think that was probably one thing that has happened as a result that I never would have anticipated.”