You’ve likely heard by now about how healthcare is becoming more of a consumer landscape in recent years. This is absolutely true and it’s affected more than just how patients choose and interact with providers. It’s also changed what patients expect in the billing process. Let’s take a look at what exactly healthcare consumerism means and what it means to you when working to collect patient payments.
What is Healthcare Consumerism?
Today’s patients are more prepared than ever to be active in their own patient care, from choosing providers to decision making in regards to treatment. In general, healthcare consumerism refers to patients taking the initiative to seek out relevant information from trustworthy sources, both people and technology, in order to decide which healthcare options, from providers to treatments, are right for them. The reason for this shift from passive to active patients is essentially twofold. For one thing, patients have become accustomed, through their interactions with service industries, to having choices and ensuring satisfaction. Secondly, health insurance benefits have undergone some substantial changes over the past several years. Today’s pricey plans with high deductibles have shifted more healthcare cost than ever onto the patients, which has caused patients to take the attitude that if they’re paying for healthcare, they should have a choice and should be thoroughly satisfied in the service they receive.
What does this mean for Patient Payments?
One of the important factors patients are often looking for in choosing their healthcare is what’s convenient for them. We’re an increasingly busy society and while we want to take care of ourselves, we don’t want to have to sacrifice a lot of time to doing it. Patient billing is one of the places where this can become the most apparent. While there are lots of reasons that patients will be slow to pay their medical bills, not providing a convenient payment method often tops the list. We’ve all been there, opening a bill and saying, “I’ll sit down, write the check, and mail it later this week,” only later that week and every thing going on in life distracts us. As a society, we’re used to being able to buy and pay for everything conveniently, often with the one device we have with us at all times — our cell phone.
It’s an obvious statement, but patient payments are incredibly important to the financial health of your practice. So it’s worth your attention that patient payments often go up more than 20% when providers offer a convenient way to pay medical bills, such as through the use of mobile payments. The reason behind this is simple. Paying a medical bill quickly and conveniently mimics the experience we’re used to as consumers. Plain and simple, patients are comfortable paying for goods and services with their phones and confident in the safety of doing so. Your patients will pay you much more quickly if they open your bill and find a way to pay with their phone; it’s so much quicker than writing and mailing a check.
So how do you get started providing a quick, convenient way to collect patient payments? Henry Schein Solutions Hub has you covered with CueSquared MobilePay. CueSquared MobilePay augments existing self-pay collection strategies by transforming patient statement data, readily available in all practice management systems, into actionable SMS text-based statements. There are no applications to download and no portals to log into; your patients simply and securely receive text statements and make payments right from their phone. Are you ready to collect more patient payments, more efficiently than ever before?
Visit henryscheinsolutionshub.com or call 833-433-2482 for more information.
