How Modern Healthcare Payment Solutions Improve Patient Satisfaction and Collections

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Key Takeaways

  • Outdated healthcare payment systems frustrate patients and cost providers revenue: Confusing bills, limited payment options, and inconvenient processes damage satisfaction, delay collections, and drive negative reviews and patient churn.
  • Patient-friendly digital payments improve collections without adding staff burden: Transparency, choice of payment methods, flexible financing, and omnichannel payment options make it easier for patients to pay, which helps providers get paid faster.

Picture this: Nine months after your medical appointment, you open your mailbox to a paper account statement. Inside is a return envelope and a perforated section to return with your payment. The statement offers no online payment option, so you call the office to pay by phone. The receptionist warns you that given that several months have passed since treatment, your account could be at risk of heading to collections if you don’t pay immediately. You reluctantly share your credit card information over the phone. Doing so leaves you uneasy about its security.

Healthcare billing and payments are significant pain points for patients. Unlike retail transactions where customers know the price and pay on the spot, healthcare is characterized by a delayed, fragmented, and opaque financial experiences. While the rest of the world has moved to one-click payments, healthcare is often stuck in the past, relying on paper statements and mailed-in check payments that are inconvenient for patients and delay cash flow.

Legacy healthcare payment processing systems can delay collections and damage patient satisfaction and loyalty. Across industries, 14% of consumers prioritize convenience in their bill paying, with Millennials (23%) more likely to skip bills that make it too hard to pay.

In fact, one survey of U.S. consumers found that 40% won’t pay their medical bill if they can’t understand the experience. Another survey found that 41% have left a negative review and 38% have switched healthcare providers due to a negative billing experience.

Modern patient payment solutions simplify and accelerate the payment process for patients and providers. In this blog, we’ll explore the shortcomings of traditional healthcare payment solutions and highlight patient-friendly payment options that overcome them. You’ll learn how to design effective patient payment financing plans that increase collections and how to measure the success of your payment solutions.

 

Traditional Healthcare Payment Solutions Frustrate Patients

Patients expect paying medical bills to be as quick and easy as shopping online. But healthcare bill payment experiences often fall short, leaving patients dealing with several payment problems:

Lack of transparency: Almost 60% of patients are dissatisfied with how providers communicate healthcare costs. Unclear bills, surprise charges, and opaque pricing make managing medical expenses challenging. Patients often experience confusion regarding payment processes, including where, how, and how much to pay. One survey found that 56% of patients find comprehending what they owe stressful.

Not enough choice in payment methods: Old-school payment systems—paper statements and check payments—just aren’t good enough for today’s patients. One third (33%) of consumers experience frustration when they are not offered modern payment solutions such as digital wallet or mobile payments. Most (87%) consumers think it’s important for their healthcare provider to offer their preferred payment method, and 24% would consider switching to a different healthcare provider if they couldn’t pay with their preferred payment method.

Inconvenience: Healthcare is behind other industries when it comes to payment ease, with only 8% of consumers indicating that healthcare payments are easy. Login and authentication problems, lack of autopay options, and being redirected to a third-party payment portal (that doesn’t work) waste time and frustrate patients.

Poor (or no) communication regarding patient financing options: About two thirds (67%) of patients reported being dissatisfied with healthcare payment options offered to them, according to a survey of U.S. consumers. Despite 78% of providers offering patient payment schedules, 45% of patients said they were never made aware of these financing options—highlighting a significant gap in communication and awareness.

 

Patient-Friendly Payment Solutions

Modern healthcare payment solutions boost collections and streamline workflows—helping providers get paid faster without adding to billing staff workloads. Delivering a convenient bill payment experience means eliminating friction from the entire process—from scheduling to final payment. Patient-friendly payment solutions include:

Upfront price transparency. Provide a clear, easy-to-understand good faith estimate of the patient’s out-of-pocket responsibility before the visit, not weeks later. When healthcare providers use embedded payments, patients know their costs and payment options before they sign the treatment consent form. This empowers patients to make informed choices about their care and reduces unpleasant billing surprises.

Payment reminders. Send timely, personalized reminders via each patient’s preferred channel, without overwhelming them. One survey found that 68% of consumers prefer an email notification when their healthcare payment is due, 54% want a text notification, and almost 50% like to receive a mailed statement.

Choice of payment methods. Increase on-time payments by allowing patients to pay by:

  • Credit/debit card: 54% of consumers prefer to pay healthcare expenses by credit card.
  • Automated clearing house (ACH): Often used for recurring billing, ACH payments have lower processing fees and failure rates than credit cards.
  • Digital wallet: Payment methods like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Venmo offer multi-layered security and greater convenience, ease, and efficiency than traditional payment methods.
  • Auto Pay: Allow patients to store a payment method for future co-pays or recurring bills.

Convenient payment channels. Give patients several fast, easy ways to pay:

  • Patient portal. Many (62%) consumers prefer to pay medical bills online, and 40% of patients would like to see their healthcare providers support online portal payments. Online digital [payment] portals provide a convenient, 24/7 access to:
    • View cost estimates and billing statements.
    • Pay balances via credit/debit card or automated clearing house (ACH).
    • Set up recurring payments or installment plans.
  • Phone (IVR or live agent). Interactive voice response (IVR) payment systems provide a secure way for people to pay anytime, anywhere, without an internet connection. Instead of entering patients’ account numbers, call center agents can generate secure payment pages (nanosites) on the spot and send the link to patients via text or email. Patients don’t have to log in (and remember a password they seldom use) to access the payment page.
  • Text-to-pay: Reach patients where they are: on their phones. By sending a payment request and link to a secure payment portal via text message, patients can pay with just a tap from their mobile device, without logging in to the patient portal.

 

Perfect Your Patient Payments with CSG Forte

Paying medical bills shouldn’t be painful. Healthcare providers can easily provide flexible, convenient payment options that promote prompt payment by using CSG Forte’s secure healthcare payment solutions. Our platform:

  • Allows patients to pay online, in person, or by phone using credit/debit cards, ACH, or digital wallets.
  • Supports recurring payments, text-to-pay, and payment plans.
  • Integrates with electronic health record (EHR) and practice management systems, simplifying administrative workflows and reducing errors.
  • Has Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) compliance built in.

Are you ready to cure your organization’s patient payment ailments and improve collections? Schedule a demo with a CSG Forte expert to see how our healthcare payment processing software improves the payment experience for patients and providers.