About 91% of consumers were surprised by a medical bill in 2019 alone. And that’s an issue.
Create a positive payment experience depends upon collaboration between providers, payors and patients. However, it’s time to go beyond transparent pricing policies and preparing patients for their bill with a preliminary conversation.
The next big challenge for patient revenue cycle admins is how to offer flexible, accessible patient payments options, so that more patients can access better care… While also creating sustainable revenue to drive growth.
As high deductibles continue to drive increased out-of-pocket costs, patients, especially younger generations, are struggling to pay their medical bills. Did you know that millennials are 2x more likely than baby boomers to opt out of receiving care due to fear of creating additional debt?
These challenges are not insurmountable. Let’s take a look at how your revenue cycle management (RCM) and billing teams can leverage engagement tools that help improve the patient experience and profitability at your practice.
1. Create an Efficient “Patient-To-Payment” System
While patient-driven payment models prioritize getting health care providers paid for their services as efficiently as possible, it mainly is focused on streamlining collections by simplifying patient responsibilities. In a streamlined “patient-to-payment” system, practices automate as many manual processes as possible, from the patient side to the administrative processes.
To do this, your RCM software should utilize electronic payment methods or eStatements as well as feature intuitive clinical documentation templates with interactive reporting modules that help improve the quality of coding and reduce claim processing errors.
Additionally, patient portals offer easy access to medical records, insurance information and allow patients to interact with comprehensive views of their accounts, leading to better understanding of costs due and increased accessibility to affordable payment plans.
2. Use Patient Engagement Tools for a Seamless Experience
These days, practice management not only entails fundamental clinical documentation, RCM and billing but also involves engagement platforms that help bridge the communication between patient, provider and payor in order to enable positive patient responses (payment, circulation of required information, participation in surveys, and more).
While many avoid the modern nuances of medical billing and insurance, it is important for providers to utilize engagement features such as patient portals, customizable dashboards and self check-in kiosks that all help reassure patients that they are being taken care of and that no revenue gets lost on account of miscommunication.
Improve Patient Payment Collection with Raintree Systems
If you are a healthcare provider, medical biller or payor and want to see for yourself how much effective engagement can help you significantly gain workflow efficiencies, start here. Learn more about our interoperable billing and Connect solutions.
Read the eBook:
The Impact of Customer Experience on Practice Revenue
