The Best Patient Financial Solutions & How To Use Them

Looking to optimize your patient collections and reduce AR Days? Learn what the best patient financial solutions are and how to use them.

Technology gave us virtual visits, but the patient financial solutions that accompany them are still catching up. This is a significant issue considering many practices are facing long AR days and bad debt in healthcare. Patient expectations are changing too. This article will dive into the best financial solutions to drive faster revenue cycles and how these changes can benefit your practice today.

Jump ahead:

• Manual Payment Processing vs. Advanced Solutions
  • Process for Paper Billing and Patient Portals
  • Process for Text and Email Engagement
• How Advanced Patient Financial Solutions Can Benefit Your Practice
  • Get Paid Faster
  • Increase Overall Collections
  • Increase Patient Satisfaction
  • Increase Patient Retention
  • Reduce Manual Labor
• Conclusion
• FAQs

Manual Payment Processing vs. Advanced Financial Solutions for Patients

While many industries have already gone digital, healthcare is still catching up when it comes to billing. Paper mail still leads for medical bills. Fifty-one percent of patients receiving a billing statement via the mail in 2021. 

How a patient receives a payment request can greatly affect the rate of speed to collection. Consider the difference between paper and digital billing:

Process for paper billing and patient portals:

1. Patient gets a bill in the mail, typically 15-30 days after the initial appointment.
2. Patient needs to find a website or scan QR code.
3. Patient pulls up the website.
4. Patient must create or input their login or invoice IDs.
5. Patient enters credit card details.
6. Patient submits payment. 

This process can be cumbersome for patients and takes longer for providers to receive payment. One study shows that 70% percent of providers said it takes more than 30 days to collect payment via mail. In the same study, 74% of providers report that it takes more than one statement to collect payment.

Alternatively, patients could pay their medical bills via advanced payment solutions, such as Mend. Thanks to changes to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in 2021, text messages between healthcare teams and patients are legal — and a faster route to payment collection.

Process for text and email engagement:

1. With Mend, patients receive a text and email with a secure link.
2. Patient clicks the secure link, verifying their identity with their DOB.
3. Patient can upload a credit card to keep on file.
4. Patient submits payment.

This process happens automatically through Mend’s integration with your Medical Billing Software. Once set up, the system triggers a sequence as soon as it detects an outstanding patient balance. After the patient clicks the link and pays their portion, the platform automatically marks it as complete.

With Mend, 72% of patients complete their payment forms. Forty-four percent complete the payment forms within just 24 hours. Click here to learn the secrets to our high completion rates.

When a practice implements a simple and frictionless payment processing system, providers can expect to see improvements in many areas of their practice.

How Advanced Patient Financial Solutions Can Benefit Your Practice

Get Paid Faster

When patients can pay conveniently, they will pay much faster. This is why text and email notifications are key. Not only is this easy for patients, but studies have shown that text and email are stronger methods for engagement. According to one report, 45% of patients would pay faster if notified by email, text, or phone call.

At Mend, we find that 96% of patients have a mobile number, meaning they have access to a mobile device. All ages, ethnicities, and income levels are mobile and expect to use their mobile devices for healthcare and payments.

Increase Overall Collections

As providers seek innovative ways to improve their collections, digital payment solutions are already showing promising results. A recent study by KLAS shows early insights into how patient financial solutions are providing revenue for organizations while also increasing patient satisfaction. 

While the sample size was small, the data offers an early pulse check for pushing faster revenue cycles and improving the patient financial experience.

Increase Patient Satisfaction with Payment Experience

Patients want the process of paying their medical bills to be as simple as ordering an item from Amazon. In fact, 60% of consumers expect their digital healthcare experience to mirror that of retail. 

It’s no surprise then that how easily a patient can make payments affects their satisfaction. The KLAS study reported an 18% increase in patient satisfaction after an organization adopted a patient financial engagement solution.

Increase Patient Retention

Even if you provide excellent patient care, patient retention is never a guarantee. Factors like problems in payment processing can affect patient retention. 

In the Healthcare Payment Experience Report, 22% of “very” or “extremely” loyal patients said they would drop a preferred physician or practice because tools such as digital form completion, payment reminders, and appointment reminders aren’t offered.

In creating a frictionless patient payment solution, it is possible to pay quickly and easily, and you can expect an increase in patient loyalty and satisfaction.

Reduce Manual Labor

With an advanced patient payment solution, practices can reduce overhead or redirect their labor force. Once manual processes — such as digital intake forms, payment processing, and more — will happen automatically.

Conclusion

It’s time for healthcare to join other industries in making payment processing quick, mobile, and convenient. With the help of advanced patient financial software, your practice can drive faster revenue cycles, reduce AR days, improve your bottom line, and much more. 

All you need to do is contact a support specialist at Mend. Let us help automate your patient payments so you can start seeing results today.