Our founder runs an independent outpatient practice in Southern California. Like every practice, it billed patients, watched balances age, and eventually handed the old ones to a collection agency — which kept a third of whatever it found and returned a fraction of the rest. The practice netted cents on the dollar and its patients heard from a stranger.

So the practice built the tool it actually needed: something that worked the 60-to-180-day balances the way the front desk would if it had time — as the practice, from the practice’s number, with a pay link and a plan option — and measured the results on the real ledger, by how old each balance was when outreach began.

The numbers held up. On balances that were already two to three months old, the practice recovered a majority of placed dollars within 90 days, in its own name, without an agency; a year after switching, it was collecting 78% more patient cash a month than under its prior vendor. That evidence became a product, and in September 2026 the product became DueWell Inc.

The platform is specialty-agnostic — it moves receivables, statements, and payments — so it runs the same for imaging, orthopedics, GI, dermatology, urgent care, physical therapy, dental, or a hospital’s self-pay book. The first practice was the proving ground, not the ceiling.