Collection agencies
A collection agency is a third party you hand overdue patient accounts to, which pursues payment on aged balances — usually for a share of what it recovers.
AI patient billing
Collection agencies vs Reclaimly
Preserves the patient relationship — at a fraction of typical agency contingency fees.
An honest, side-by-side look at a collection agency vs Reclaimly — the AI agent that understands each balance and does the follow-up itself, so your team handles the exceptions.
Collection agencies pursue aged balances late, after the relationship is strained, and take a share of what they recover; Reclaimly understands each balance and engages patients early in plain language — so balances resolve before collections, and you keep the relationship and the revenue.
The short version
What each one is
Reclaimly
AI patient billing is software that uses AI agents to manage every patient balance from visit to payment — explaining charges, answering questions, following up by text, email, and phone, and taking the calls your team used to field — so providers collect more of what patients owe, with a person stepping in only for the cases that need one.
Head to head
Collection agencies vs Reclaimly, side by side
A fair, line-by-line comparison — what Collection agencies does, and where Reclaimly does the work end to end.
When it engages
Collection agenciesLate — after the balance is overdue and aged
ReclaimlyEarly — from visit to payment, before accounts age
Patient relationship
Collection agenciesOften strained by the collections process
ReclaimlyExplains bills in plain language — relationship preserved
Cost model
Collection agenciesA contingency percentage of what is recovered
ReclaimlyA low rate on collected balances — far below typical agency contingency fees — and the patient relationship stays yours
How it works
Collection agenciesPursues payment on placed accounts
ReclaimlyUnderstands each balance and resolves it across channels
Coverage
Collection agenciesOnly the accounts you place, once aged
ReclaimlyWorks every balance from the start
Visibility
Collection agenciesLimited insight once placed
ReclaimlyEvery balance and interaction visible in real time
A general, category-level comparison as of July 2026 — individual providers vary. We only claim outcomes for Reclaimly as percentages and time windows.
Where Reclaimly wins
Execution and transparency — without the trade-off
Most options make you choose: do the work but lose visibility, or stay in control but do it all yourself. Reclaimly does the work autonomously and stays fully visible — and it's live in under two weeks.
Execution →Transparency →
Collection agencies
Reclaimly
Reclaimly lands where most options can't — high execution and full transparency at once.
Execution, not just messages
An autonomous AI agent does the work — understands each balance and follows through. Not another portal, not a fixed sequence.
Full transparency
Every balance and interaction is visible in real time. You set the rules and keep the patient relationship — never opaque.
Live in under two weeks
Connects to the EHR you already use and our team runs the setup — no new system for staff to learn.
Being fair
When a collection agency makes sense
A collection agency makes sense as a last resort for accounts that are genuinely delinquent and well past every reasonable internal effort. The goal with Reclaimly is to resolve most balances long before they ever reach that point.
What Collection agencies is good at
- A last-resort path for truly delinquent accounts
- Removes very old balances from your books
- No internal effort once an account is placed
- Useful after in-house follow-up is exhausted
When you want that work done autonomously — with full visibility, and live in under two weeks — that's where Reclaimly comes in.
By the numbers
The outcome practices see with Reclaimly
Results vary by practice and patient mix — but the pattern is consistent. We report percentages and time windows only, never a single guaranteed figure.
- +20–100%more collected from patientsdepending on specialty and current RCM practices
- < 2 weeksaverage time to collectdown from roughly 40 days of manual follow-up
- 97%+of patient cases handled without a humanyour team steps in only for disputes and edge cases
Keep comparing
Connects directly to the EHR you already use — including Epic, athenahealth, and eClinicalWorks.
FAQ
Collection agencies vs Reclaimly — questions
Yes — and it works at the opposite end of the timeline. A collection agency steps in late, once a balance is overdue and the relationship is already strained. Reclaimly engages patients early and in plain language so most balances resolve before they would ever reach collections — and you keep the patient relationship and the revenue.
A collection agency pursues aged accounts you place with it and takes a share of what it recovers. Reclaimly works every balance from the start — understanding it, explaining the charges, and following up across channels — so fewer accounts ever age into collections. You keep full real-time visibility, the patient relationship, and the revenue.
They solve different stages. A collection agency is a last resort for truly delinquent accounts. Reclaimly is the better fit for mid-market practices that want to resolve balances early — preserving the relationship and keeping the revenue — and goes live in under two weeks. Practices typically see +20–100% more collected from patients, depending on specialty and current RCM practices.
Get started
See it on your own patient balances
Get a 15-minute walkthrough using your own workflow and data, and see how Reclaimly collects more from patients while taking the routine follow-up off your team.
HIPAA-compliant · BAA available · live in under two weeks