In today’s value-driven healthcare landscape, the patient experience is paramount. From physician-owned practices to small hospitals, the billing process impacts management and revenue growth. Patient pay holds a significant potential to impact financial results, the onus rests with organization leaders to cultivate an experience that maximizes satisfaction and revenue.
Deciphering Healthcare Consumer Expectations
Patients have always demanded clinical excellence from their healthcare providers. However, today’s narrative underscores the end-to-end patient journey as the ultimate goal. With the rise of consumerism in healthcare, patients expect a seamless, hassle-free experience through each step of their care. While many healthcare organizations offer top-notch care, the billing process often gets overlooked as an integral part of the experience. Astoundingly, a mere 42% of providers are content with their patient-pay solution, leaving a whopping 58% in need of transformative enhancements.1
So, what constitutes an optimal patient-pay journey? It begins by keeping patients at the center of the process, ensuring transparency, convenience, and effective communication are at the forefront. Consider the patient’s perspective: grappling with medical bills on top of personal financial stresses. Clear, compassionate, and timely communication alleviates much of this burden. Such a patient-first approach doesn’t only uplift patients: an oncology care center reported a stellar 98% patient satisfaction score and an impressive 94% boost in patient-pay collections after embracing a patient-centric billing system.2
Bridging Patient Experience with Financial Outcomes
The relationship between satisfaction and collection rates becomes evident in patient-pay trends. A Connance survey reveals nearly 75% of patients who are highly satisfied with their provider’s billing practices settle their bills in full.3 Patients with a positive experience are more likely to be prompt bill payers and less prone to challenge charges, which naturally streamlines cash flow and diminishes the administrative weight of pursuing outstanding dues.
Furthermore, effective billing engagement plays a role in shaping better care. By eliminating financial tension from the patient-provider equation, care quality and satisfaction skyrocket. Notably, a satisfying billing process culminates in enhanced patient loyalty and boosted brand reputation. Those who experience holistic satisfaction – spanning from clinical care to billing — are more inclined to revisit and refer others.
Considerations for Healthcare Providers
For successful patient-pay revenue cycle management, adopting a patient-centered process is a must. The rewards include:
- Distinctive Competitive Edge. Prioritizing patient-centered billing sets your organization as one that holistically values its patients. With a superior patient-pay experience, your practice is well-positioned to outpace competitors and realize greater revenue.
- Enhanced Financial Returns. The data is clear — health centers boasting high patient satisfaction scores invariably report superior financial outcomes, given the blend of quicker collections, reduced billing costs, and strong patient loyalty.
- Increased Positive Reviews and Referrals. A highly engaged billing team is vital for improving patient experience, which in turn uplifts financial outcomes. Capitalizing on positive patient reviews can fuel further referrals, ensuring your clinic remains noticeable even in saturated markets.
Treating patient experience as a core pillar isn’t merely a fleeting strategy. A staggering 93% of patients strongly consider the quality of billing experience when deciding to return to a provider.4 This accentuates the importance for all healthcare organizations, especially specialized practices and small physician-owned hospitals to invest in patient billing engagement to ensure revenue.
At PatientFocus, we have tailored our approach to align patient experience with financial growth. Through our white-labeled solution, we have propelled many medical centers to new heights of engagement, quality of care, and patient-pay revenue.
Ready to transform your patient experience and supercharge revenue? Partner with PatientFocus to lead the change.
Sources
- Synchrony. (2023, April 6). Study Finds Healthcare Providers Looking to Outsource Revenue Cycle Management Processes [Press Release]. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/study-finds-healthcare-providers-looking-to-outsource-revenue-cycle-management-processes-301791790.html
- PatientFocus Case Study: Regional Cancer Care Associates.
- LaPointe, J. (2018, October 11). Healthcare Business Office Experience Impacts Patient Collections. RevCycleIntelligence. https://revcycleintelligence.com/news/healthcare-business-office-experience-impacts-patient-collections
- 2021 Healthcare Consumer Experience Study. (2021). Cedar. https://pages.cedar.com/2021healthcarestudy-sign-up
