Patients love options, digital options, that is.
Despite the pressure of rising healthcare costs and deductibles facing patients, they want to pay their bills, provided they have digestible information and options from which to choose.
Providers can help patients understand what services they are paying for out-of-pocket and offer pathways to payment. It’s clear that patients are seeking options in the form of personalized digital payment systems.
Here are the top four revenue cycle updates patients want and love:
Make it clear. Offer simple billing communications.
The drive toward an e-commerce-style payment experience continues to meet patient demands. Consumers have become accustomed to convenient, self-service payment experiences for everything from sports tickets to utility bills. All with just a few taps on their phone. Offering patients self-service, digital experiences like pre-service estimates or payment plans can improve patient satisfaction scores while increasing hospital revenue.
Merchants in many industries now customize individual interactions by offering personalized recommendations, acknowledging return users, storing payment preferences, and extending these features across platforms and devices. It’s time for Healthcare to follow suit.
Healthcare providers can realign their revenue cycle workflow to address new patient realities.
Provide service estimates up front.
Engage patients at pre-service to take the surprise out of their upcoming medical bill. Many patients are willing to begin making payments ahead of a visit, especially when presented with payment options that meet their budget. Initiating this early self-service engagement will reach more patients and save staff time.
With new technology, providers can communicate service estimates at the start of a patients’ healthcare journey with automated email appointment reminders to show an out-of-pocket estimate with an offer to make an initial payment.
Make is easy to pay – provide options!
Patients these days expect medical convenience, efficiency, and innovative technologies that give them options in their healthcare experience. Those demands are driving providers to develop personalized, easy-to-use revenue cycle models.
Consumers say that for their next healthcare purchase, 83% will seek a provider that offers four fundamental technologies:
- digital scheduling
- online payment options
- portal and engagement capabilities
- results reporting tools.
In fact, 90% of patients polled no longer feel obligated to stay with healthcare providers that don’t deliver an overall satisfactory digital experience.
And, 88% of respondents under age 40 indicated they will select their next medical provider based on a strong online presence.
Providers are also giving patients more options to pay for healthcare expenses through financial platforms offering revolving lines of credit.
With this option, patients can get the care they want and need by paying over time for deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance, and other out-of-pocket healthcare costs.
This growing trend shows that patients are more willing to pay if they receive digestible, actionable payment options.
Digital, digital, digital (aka self-service) – make everything accessible.
Driven by expectations and shifting regulations prioritizing patient experience, innovative health systems are rapidly moving to digital-first, patient-centric experience defined by self-service.
It’s clear patient’s are dissatisfied with complex payment systems and are looking for improved, personalized services. In a BlackBook survey, 92% say improving customer experience should be a top strategic priority for medical providers.
Patients want the ability to access their healthcare information from their mobile devices. As consumers, patients now use mobile apps and tools on a day-to-day basis, and hospitals understand what they have to do to take advantage of the growing trend. Mobile access for healthcare payments can allow patients to interact easily with their healthcare providers.