As you are aware, out of pocket expenses for patients have increased in the last few years. This fact has prompted many providers to revisit the issue of whether they should charge patients interest or late payment fees after a balance becomes past due. Money collected from these accrued finance charges is often used to offset costs that a practice will incur in its attempts to collect balances owed. Such costs include additional statements, staffing for collections calls, and/or external collections agency fees which are increasing, because of new and additional governmental regulation.