Midwest Service Bureau FAQ

Our office, sales, and operations teams are available Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Central Time. Our call centers operate Monday–Saturday, with calling hours adjusted to the applicable state rules and the consumer’s local time. Saturday call-center coverage gives consumers another day to reach our collection team. Sales inquiries are handled during weekday office hours.

Clients with already combined, ready-to-import account data can be live in under 24 hours. Custom file layouts, scheduled SFTP feeds and database exports typically take 5–10 days to set up. The vast majority of clients are online within 4 days.

Our team reviews your data and confirms the setup plan before the first placement. Account validation and required notices are part of the collection process.

The account remains open until the statute of limitations has expired unless special circumstances occur. New accounts from other creditors are linked for more information.

Yes. Midwest Service Bureau has been BBB accredited since 2016 and holds an A+ rating.

MSB searches for assets when the debtor is not willing to pay voluntarily and before recommending a suit. Client approval is required before proceeding with litigation.

Quality is checked through manager audits, written reviews and regular training, and flagged call recordings are transcribed with AI assistance and scored by compliance staff.

Clients can track their accounts in the client portal, which shows account status and payment history for every placed account, and can call MSB at (800) 362-0272 with questions.

MSB provides collection services for healthcare providers (hospitals, physician practices, dental offices), commercial businesses (B2B trade credit and accounts receivable), municipal and government agencies (utility collections, court fines), and education institutions (tuition and fee recovery). Each industry team understands the specific regulations, billing patterns, and debtor demographics relevant to your sector.

MSB works on a contingency-fee basis for most collection services. That means you pay nothing upfront — we only earn a fee when we successfully recover money on your behalf. Our rates vary based on account volume, age of debt, and industry. We provide a detailed fee schedule during your free consultation so there are no surprises. For early-out and first-party services, we offer competitive flat-fee and hybrid pricing structures as well.

Yes. MSB handles medical debt collection under its HIPAA compliance program: it signs a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with each healthcare client and receives PHI by encrypted file transfer (SFTP).

MSB is licensed where required (NMLS ID 2671949; California 11599-99; NYC DCWP 2124316-DCWP) and places accounts nationwide. Verify our registrations on NMLS Consumer Access.

Yes, through file exchange. We accept account files exported from Epic, Cerner (Oracle Health), MEDITECH, athenahealth, NextGen, eClinicalWorks and others by SFTP or CSV upload, and return payment files. No vendor certification is claimed. Custom file layouts, scheduled SFTP feeds and database exports typically take 5–10 days to set up. Sending an existing, combined export is a different setup path from building a new custom feed.

Midwest Service Bureau was founded in 1970 and has been in continuous operation for over 55 years. We are BBB-accredited (A+), licensed where required, and headquartered in Wichita, Kansas.

Patient experience is a top priority in our healthcare collections process. Every collector assigned to medical accounts receives specialized training in empathetic communication, financial counseling, and patient rights. We use your organization's name in initial communications (first-party branding) to maintain continuity, and our tone is always professional and respectful. We also screen accounts for charity care eligibility, Medicaid qualification, and financial hardship programs before pursuing aggressive collection activity.

Yes. While our primary focus is on patient self-pay and bad debt collections, MSB also assists with insurance denial appeals and follow-up as part of our early-out patient collections program. Our team can identify accounts where insurance was billed incorrectly, where additional documentation could reverse a denial, or where coordination of benefits issues have resulted in the patient being billed for amounts that should have been covered. By resolving insurance issues before they become patient responsibility, we reduce the overall volume of accounts that require active collection — saving your organization time and improving the patient financial experience.

The No Surprises Act (effective January 2022) protects patients from unexpected medical bills for emergency services and out-of-network care at in-network facilities. MSB's compliance team has integrated No Surprises Act requirements into our collection workflow. Before pursuing collection on any balance, we verify that the account is not subject to surprise billing protections, that proper good faith estimates were provided when required, and that the patient's rights under the Act have been respected. Our system flags accounts that may involve out-of-network emergency care, anesthesiology, radiology, or other commonly affected specialties for compliance review before any collection activity begins. Learn more about our compliance framework.

MSB remits recovered funds to clients on a regular schedule — most clients receive remittances monthly, though we also offer bi-weekly and weekly remittance options for higher-volume accounts. Each remittance is accompanied by a detailed accounting report showing which accounts were collected, the amount recovered on each, our fee, and the net amount being remitted. Payments are sent via ACH direct deposit or check, depending on your preference. Our standard remittance cycle is net-30, meaning funds collected in a given month are remitted by the end of the following month, though expedited schedules are available for qualified clients.

Yes. Payment plans are an important tool in our collection strategy, and our collectors are authorized to arrange structured payment plans within parameters that you define. You set the rules — minimum payment amounts, maximum plan duration, down payment requirements — and our team works within those guidelines to find solutions that debtors can realistically maintain. Payment plans are documented in writing, and our system automatically tracks compliance, sends reminders, and flags accounts where payments are missed. For healthcare clients, we also assist patients in applying for financial assistance programs, charity care, and Medicaid when appropriate.

You can recall accounts from MSB at any time. We understand that circumstances change — a customer may contact you directly to arrange payment, an account may be placed in error, or you may decide to handle certain accounts internally. To recall an account, notify our team. The account will be returned immediately and no further collection activity will occur. Recall terms, including any fee on accounts recalled after work has begun, are set in your service agreement.