Regardless of their specialty, caregivers work tirelessly to build and maintain rapport with their patients. But when it comes time to bill patients for services rendered, a lot of that goodwill can go out the window.
The patient pay experience is a delicate one, and the wrong approach can have severe consequences for your continued relationship with patients, not to mention your organization’s bottom line. PatientFocus’s suite of engagement tools ensure a smoother billing experience for patients, while fostering the human connection your caregivers worked so hard to establish.
The Human Connection Is Just a Call Away
For some patients, there’s immense comfort in hopping on a phone call. Being able to speak to a real person to hash out questions, confirm their balance, or even set up a payment plan can smooth over any speed bumps on the path to payment.
But anyone who’s ever paid a bill can tell you that it’s not always that easy. Between wrestling with automated voice systems and being connected to operators overseas who may not be native speakers of the patient’s preferred language, making a phone call about a medical bill can be a frustrating and time-consuming ordeal.
Making an authentic human connection over the phone is simple with PatientFocus. Our inbound call center is based right here in the United States, ensuring that patients get prompt support when they need a helping hand with their bill.
Our call center operators are 85% bilingual in both English and Spanish, giving patients the ability to discuss sensitive billing matters in whichever language is most comfortable for them. Fielding an average of 50,000 calls monthly, our operators pride themselves on offering clarity and compassion as they help patients navigate their bills in real time.
That simple human connection has had a big impact on the patient pay experience. 79% of calls to the PatientFocus call center are one-call resolutions that lead to prompt payment. With resolutions reached with less friction on the patient’s side, we see a 95% decrease in inbound patient pay calls, cutting down on the amount of work patients need to do to gain confidence about their bills.
Make your human connections feel truly human. PatientFocus’ call center gives patients the confidence that they have a real, local advocate for their pay experience when they need it most.
A More Human Approach to Digital Engagement
For many providers, patient outreach begins and ends with the mailed paper statement. Even today, 57% of providers send patients only a paper statement, without any additional forms of engagement. Unfortunately, that “tried and true” method has become much less effective in recent years.
Patient preferences have changed dramatically in the digital age. A recent study showed that ¾ of patients prefer receiving bills digitally, but ¾ of them received only a paper bill either in the mail or at the point of service. Between lagging payments and an increase in accounts receivable days, it’s easy to see the results of that disconnect.
For today’s patients, digital is human — and there’s no more human device than our smartphones. They are our point of connection to friends, family, work, and the world at large through social media and the internet. With PatientFocus, our phones are the connection to a more convenient, more human patient pay experience, too.
It all revolves around the PatientFocus online payment portal. As a first point of engagement, patients will receive a paper statement with a convenient QR code that they can scan with their phones to quickly access the secure payment portal. That paper statement is complemented by two digital reminders: one over email, and one as a text message.
Aside from the convenience of receiving a payment reminder right in the palm of their hand, PatientFocus’ text messages feature simple click-to-pay. With just a tap of their finger, patients can quickly access their accurate statement, make a one-time payment, or set up a payment plan that works for their budget.
Digital doesn’t have to mean impersonal. PatientFocus’ suite of digital engagement tools ensures that every touchpoint meets patients on their own terms, and meets their expectations at every step.
PatientFocus: The Authentic Engagement Suite for Patient Pay
Every touchpoint with patients is an opportunity to build trust. PatientFocus’ suite of digital-first engagement tools are built with authentic, human connection at the foundation.
Whether you lean on our domestic call center, our convenient statements and digital engagement solutions, or the full-fledged PatientFocus suite, our support puts a human heart behind the patient pay experience.
See just how authentic our approach to patient pay can feel. Schedule your personalized walkthrough of PatientFocus, and start making a real connection with patients today.