2020 Revenue Cycle Trends To Know
U.S. HEALTHCARE REVENUE CYCLE
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Mounting pressure on patients and medical providers due to increased patient financial responsibility. What can you do to help accelerate cash? Read on!
Maria Todd is frequently engaged as a consultant to help improve healthcare revenue cycle management and improve or accelerate cash at hospitals, medical groups, and ambulatory surgery facilities.
Maria believes that patient financial responsibility has grown to a point where providers must adopt new perspectives when counting on commercial payers to pay the bulk of timely payments. Now that more money must be collected from patients, which tactics and strategies can you deploy without investing losing more money on efforts to collect?
Manual calls, statements and email are no longer effective methods to collect patient self-pay balances.
Maria Todd: In the past, we estimated that it cost 28% of revenue to collect what is owed from all sources. That number is escalating and shows no signs it will go back down. If a patient pays cash in full on the day of service or before, they should not have to suffer this 28% (or higher) cost that they don’t incur. Reward cash pay patients with a discount that reflects and rewards their willingness to pay in full at the time of service or before. It’s only fair and trends indicate that patients are beginning to expect this consideration. Cash is power and freedom! Don’t disappoint them or they’ll abandon your brand like a sinking ship.
Portal Shmortal!
Maria Todd: We’ve learned that portal adoption is difficult to achieve, especially for collections and payments. While they work for giving patients access to their own clinical data, medical history, and current care plan, they don’t care for portal use to make payments, daily communication about appointments, lab results, follow-up and preventive care, intake, patient satisfaction, and collections, the patient portal isn’t working because it’s locked behind apps, usernames, and passwords. Patients simply don’t like using the portal for these activities and therefore aren’t engaging as planned. And senior patients are afraid to use them.
Collect balances owed at check in and check out. Those able to pay will do so if asked. Take people staffing these roles out of the role if they feel awkward asking for money. Replace those ineffective staffers with other people who are unafraid and willing to offer solutions such as CarePayUSA – a zero interest, 97% approval on the spot patient financing option that requires only 25% down and 9-12 months of monthly or biweekly payments that your healthcare revenue cycle staff won’t have to manage. Patients wishing to apply can use their cell phone with registered practices, ASCs, and hospitals. There’s no cost to register your business and start getting paid without the hassles of payment plan management. Ask me for details (800.727.4160). I’m connected. I’ll get you signed up same day if you like.
Pre-registration
Maria Todd: Don’t skip pre-registration like 85% of your industry peers! Pre-registration is the perfect opportunity to set patient expectations and explain your price transparency and timely billing and payment process. Use the lead time to verify coverage and begin the revenue management process with patients. Collect a deposit in advance on the known copay or deductible due and owing. The earlier the financial conversation takes place in the patient’s journey, the better the patient can plan, ask for assistance, or create a payment plan with the clinic. You’ll also help reduce patient anxiety, A/R days, and wait times, resulting in improved patient experience overall.
SMS (Text) Messages
Maria Todd: Many people prefer text messages to emails or paper bills. With a 98% open rate and an average 90-second response rate and credit card on file program implemented, you can send a text and let patients know you’ll be processing a specific amount that’s due. All they need to do is respond with a “yes”. No password, no user name, no hassle. Send a text to confirm a successful transaction. Done! Paid. Next?
How can I help you?
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…for more information about what’s been mentioned in this article or something else you’d like to learn more about