Balancing Compassion and Efficiency in Healthcare Patient Collections

Patient collections have increasingly become hectic and puts the healthcare providers under immense pressure. Specifically, after the pandemic only 60% of payments have been collected from nearly 20% of copays accounts of doctor’s office revenue. Industry changes like evolving ICD codes following the high-deductible health plans have increased the medical cost on patient’s condition, which has raised the challenge of patient collections. Thus, making the patient collections in medical billing a very critical part of healthcare care revenue cycle.

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The question here is how do the healthcare providers balance efficiency with compassion while managing patient billing and collection? Down in this article you’ll find some gold nuggets on balancing compassion and efficiency in patient collections, which will help you as healthcare professional to set the track in right direction while knowing how important this aspect is. So, let’s begin.

The Shift to Compassionate Collections: A Necessary Change

Collecting patient payments can very be successful if done aggressively in healthcare environment, this tactic has long gone. According to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) 56% of patients have unpaid bills over $1,000 and two-thirds of patients have over $200. In this case taking aggressive measures makes no sense, the best strategy here is adopting a compassionate approach towards these collections. Prioritizing the financial condition of patients and offering them tailored solutions according to their needs creates a win-win for both patient and provider. One way to do this is collecting patient’s data, creating flexible payment options by using empathetic communication. This also helps both patient and provider in building satisfactory relationships, which is very crucial in the success of practice.

Tailoring Payment Options with Data Analytics

To provide personalized payment plans and reminders to patients, healthcare providers are using analytics to get access to the financial situation for each of their patients. This helps them to adopt data-driven collection strategies that ultimately result in better cash flow. For example, Novant Health utilized automated collection tools and personalized it to their specific need. This helped them to achieve a 5.8% increase in their collections and 6.5% overall betterment in patient payment collections.

Personalizing Communication for Better Engagement

Building trust and improving engagement with patients play a vital role in achieving success in practice. One of the key methods for this is to communicate with patients by tailoring to their needs, either through emails, mails or text messages. This directly improves patient account service collections. According to the study of Johns Hopkins using EHR Data, segmenting patients and customizing the communication helps in improving interactions with patients which leads to higher collection success.

Offering Flexible Payment Methods for Convenience

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Patients who are given the choice to pay as per their ease are more likely to do so on time. This is in fact one of the most critical factors that strengthens the relationship between patient and provider. Grinnell Regional Medical Center has offered its patients multiple payment methods which has given them huge success in collections. This flexibility leads to dynamic flow of cash and improves the outcome of patient financial services collections.

9 Simple Steps to Improve Patient Collections

Providers, after adopting the compassionate mindset, can now work on implementing actionable strategies to further improve patient collections. The following are 9 proven ways that can help to craft better patient payment compliance which also enhances the collection process.

1. Collect Payments Upfront

   Addressing the due payments upfront when patient checks-ins encourages them to pay early which ultimately reduces the follow-ups efforts.

2. Use Patient Portals for Payments

   The easier it is for patients to pay the faster they will clear their outstanding invoices. One way is to give them an option to pay from their comfort of home using online portals.

3. Provide Clear, Well-Designed Statements

   Keeping the invoices understandable and ensuring the billing statements are easy to read compels the patient to pay without having any confusion.

4. Offer Flexible Payment Plans

   Customize payment options for patients with large balances, ensuring compliance with regulations and reducing payment delays.

5. Identify Outstanding Balances Early

   Verifying insurance before or during treatment helps prevent billing surprises and delays in payment.

6. Expand Payment Options

   Accept various payment methods to cater to patient preferences and encourage quicker payment.

7. Optimize Payment Posting

   Automate payment posting for faster processing and reconciliation, and train staff to maximize efficiency.

8. Follow Up on Overdue Accounts

   Use phone calls and written reminders to empathetically follow up with patients, offering solutions like payment plans to address delays.

9. Outsource Collections

   Consider outsourcing collections to third-party experts to improve cash flow and reduce administrative burdens.

The Role of Contactless Payments in Modern Collections

Contactless payments are gaining popularity as healthcare billing is evolving. In a survey made in 2021, it shows that 80% of patients like to pay via mobile wallet or using QR code scanning for their medical bills. This trend is more driven by the younger generation. Adopting this method could reduce the account receivable days and streamline the patient collection process.

Partnering with Experts for Optimal Patient Collections

Patient collections in medical billing require top-notch management in balancing compassion and efficiency with modern technology. Using patient-centric strategies like data driven insights, multiple payment options and personalized communication, healthcare gets tremendous benefits in their accounts receivables and enhanced patient experience. However, achieving a balanced relationship between collection and compassion with patients could be overwhelming, specifically when healthcare practices are growing. But you don’t need to be worried, CollectCo has got your back on this. Introducing SaaS-based revenue cycle management designed to automate, streamline and overcome the challenges in collections with more accuracy and compliance while enhancing patient satisfaction. Book a demo with live collection professional of CollectCo and discover how its compassionate collection module can boost your practice and help you thrive financially without sacrificing the patient care.