Collections
Contact strategies
A contact strategy is your policy for when and how you reach a patient about a balance. ArkCloud records contacts and some preferences; it does not run multi-channel campaigns or enforce contact limits for you.
Written for: Collections managers · Compliance reviewers · Evaluators
What ArkCloud does and does not do for contact
| Field or control | What it means |
|---|---|
| SMS consent | Enforced for failed-payment and statement texts, portal invitation texts, and texts staff send from a notification. Consent is read from three places - the patient's SMS consent flag, the patient's contact preferences, and the TCPA consent register - and any opt-out in any of them wins. Active consent in any one of them allows a text; a patient with no consent recorded anywhere is not texted. Do not text in the portal and a STOP reply both count as opt-outs. |
| SMS opt-out (STOP) | Enforced once Twilio's inbound webhook is configured: a reply of STOP (or STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, REVOKE, OPTOUT) turns the patient's SMS consent flag off for that number in every organisation. START does not restore consent. Opt-outs given by phone or letter are still recorded by staff. |
| Contact hours (8am-9pm) | Enforced for the same texts: a text is refused outside 8am-9pm. The time is read in your organisation's timezone (the scheduling policy's, then the appointment-reminder policy's); with neither set, it must be 8am-9pm on both the East and West coasts. A patient's own timezone is not known. Rehab appointment reminders follow their own quiet hours (see Rehab scheduling). ArkCloud places no outbound calls, so there is no call to check. |
| Call frequency (for example 7 calls in 7 days) | Not enforced. A frequency check exists in code but nothing calls it before a contact. |
| Cease-and-desist, attorney representation, bankruptcy | Recorded as communication preferences. Statement runs and the Statements screen's Send skip patients with cease-and-desist or bankruptcy on file (not attorney representation), and letter cadences produce no letter for any of the three. Queues, the call centre, the account's Script tab and the collections workspace do not check them. |
| Do-Not-Call registry | Not available. There is no national or state DNC registry lookup. |
| Disputes | A dispute can be recorded (Patient AR → Disputes). While it is open, letter cadences produce no letters for the account; it does not pause queues or calls. |
| Compliance → TCPA Tracking rules | Rules created there are recorded only. Nothing checks them before a call, text or letter. |
Planning a contact sequence
The following is general practice guidance, not a description of an automated feature. Many organisations use an escalating sequence over the first 60-90 days:
- Early (first statement cycle): statements and reminders, with a link to pay or arrange a plan.
- Follow-up: calls to accounts that have not responded, and a second letter.
- Escalation: a final notice, supervisor review, financial-assistance screening, and only then a decision about agency placement.
In ArkCloud you carry out those steps with the tools that exist: statement runs, letter cadences (generation only), calls logged on the account, and assignment by a supervisor.
Rules to plan around
This is background, not legal advice; your counsel decides what applies to you. Note that the federal FDCPA and Regulation F apply chiefly to third-party debt collectors, not to a provider collecting its own accounts - though some state laws extend similar rules to original creditors.
- Calls before 8am or after 9pm in the consumer's local time are presumed inconvenient (FDCPA).
- Regulation F presumes harassment above 7 call attempts in 7 days about one debt, or within 7 days after a telephone conversation about it.
- Stop contacting a consumer known to be represented by an attorney about the debt, and honour written cease-communication requests.
- The TCPA requires prior express consent for autodialed or prerecorded calls and texts to mobile numbers; honour opt-outs promptly.