In the past few years, one phrase has dominated healthcare shows, news and blogs: patient financial experience. And there’s good reason. Many offices excel at making appointments and treating patients. But the positive patient experience often goes downhill during billing and payment.
Adding emphasis on patient financial experience to your office workflow can be difficult. But if you want to retain patients, and recover more money in the process, your office must adapt.
Luckily, you can see big results through a few simple changes in your payment process. Using a payment processor who offers online payment portals for healthcare payment collection is easy. And it will improve customer service and increase revenue at the same time.
Higher Patient Satisfaction
Offering ACH and credit card processing through an online payment page is easy. More importantly, patients often prefer it. Offering multiple ways to pay a bill is vital to a positive patient financial experience. But especially for younger generations, online payments are at the top of their list–and for good reason.
- Makes Paying Easier - Mobile and online payments are offered in most other industries. Hospitals, doctor’s offices and health care clinics haven’t caught up. Only accepting payments by phone, mail, or office makes it harder for patients to pay. And it makes them more frustrated in the process. Offering an online payment solution improves the patient experience, keeping them satisfied.
- Eliminates the Need to Speak to a Person - With an online payment option, there’s no need to speak to a representative to pay the bill. Patients find this appealing for many reasons. Their financial situation or desire for privacy and security may make the self-serve payment option a preferred payment solution.
Speeds Up Revenue Cycle and Increases Revenue
The benefits of boosting the payment financial experience aren’t all one-sided. Making online payments available will increase healthcare payment collection and speed up the revenue cycle.
- Increase in Payments Collected – PDCflow studied our long-term clients in the healthcare industry who use online payment services. These companies have seen a 39.49% year-over-year average increase in their revenue.
- Online Payment Solutions are More Efficient – Setting up your site for ACH and credit card processing opens a new path to increasing your revenue. It doesn’t cost you money in staff hours. It doesn’t require extra employee training. And it collects money for your office 24/7. Taking money around the clock improves patient satisfaction. It encourages financial responsibility. And it does so without adding a single member to your health care staff.
- Online Payments Reduce Outsourcing Due to Non-Payment – Online payments boost the patient financial experience through ease of payment. The opposite is also true without self-serve payment solutions. Patients usually aren’t excited to receive a bill. Roadblocks to a quick payment can cause them to forget they owe money. By offering an easy-to-access option, you lower the number of bills that are sent to collections for nonpayment.
Improving the patient financial experience is a long road with many stops along the way. Offering a user-friendly, customizable online payment portal is the simplest way to start.
To learn more about how PDCflow can help your healthcare operation improve the patient financial experience, check out:
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR -
Hannah Huerta, Marketing Specialist
Hannah Huerta is a Marketing Specialist at PDCflow. She creates content for the accounts receivable and payment industry.
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