October marks the beginning of "collection season" for agencies; a roughly six-month period of mostly increasing recoveries bookended by the dog days of summer and April's tax deadline.
Mike Dunn, I.C. System's Sr. VP of Operations, shared his thoughts on collection season:
 
"Collections always increase in the fall; we speak to more debtors since they're home more than they were in summer. October is traditionally a very good collection month and November/December year-over-year results have improved. It's collection season; NOW is definitely the time to submit accounts. 
 
A new year signals a tax-time collection lift! The annual lift occurred in March and April for years; however, e-filing and direct deposits mean more debtors get refunds earlier and the NEW tax-time lift starts in January and peaks in February.
 
And last but definitely not least, there is a credit-reporting factor in play throughout collection season. If a client authorizes credit reporting, we report their accounts to the national bureaus approximately 45 days after receiving and working the accounts. Some debtors use refunds to make down payments on big-ticket items or to refinance; if we had the client's OK to previously credit report those accounts, purchases/refinances often lead to a client getting PAID."
 
To speak with an I.C. System representative, please call 800-279-3511 or visit www.icmemberbenefits.com.

Do you have any employees in your practice that are Medicare eligible or that soon will be and are on the SCDA group medical plan?  If so, there is a two pager that consists of some information that you need to present to them prior to November 15th.  Click here to open and view this document.  Simply print and give to the eligible employee for them to review and to keep in their personal files.  This document explains that the drug coverage under the SCDA medical plan IS creditable.
 
You will also need to complete a survey on the Medicare services website that can be found by clicking here.  This survey needs to be updated once per year.

Have you ever found yourself out running errands on the weekend and suddenly pass a store and recall something you need to purchase for the office?  Staples has received a lot of requests from our members wanting to know how they can receive the SCDA contracted/discounted prices should they physically go to a local Staples store vs. ordering office supplies online because of situations just like this. 
 
In the past this has not been possible, but Staples has now created a website that will allow you to do just that.  Visit this link to register your credit card for use in a Staples store and the next time you visit a Staples store, you will receive the SCDA member discounted price just as if you were ordering it online.  It's secure because credit card numbers are not passed through non secure media, email or mail and they are converted to an alias number prior to being reviewed by Staples' associates. The alias number is what is stored in Staples system once registered.
 
And what's even better is if the store happens to be having a sale and the sale price is actually lower than our contracted price, you get the lower of the two.