Patient collections refer to the process of obtaining payments from patients for services rendered. Also known as patient financial responsibility, this process is crucial for the financial stability and sustainability of medical practices.
However, collecting payments can be challenging, as patients’ level of understanding varies with insurance coverage and financial obligations. This leads to confusion and potential resistance to making payments.
According to PYMNTS report, more than two in five patients who received inaccurate cost estimates ended up spending more on healthcare than they could afford. As healthcare costs continue to rise, both patients and providers struggle to balance their budgets. Increased co-pays burden patients, while decline in reimbursements challenges healthcare providers.
In this blog, let’s explore the challenges and how to overcome them:
Challenges to Address with Patient Collections
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Late Payments and Delays
Most practices struggle with late payments and delays, causing financial strain. Waiting for reimbursements and insurance claims can be particularly burdensome for some practices. Additionally, collecting co-pays can be daunting with rejected insurance claims.
To avoid payment delays and bad debts, some practices ask for co-pays before providing services, using a platform like CERTIFY Health. -
Human Entry Errors
Minor human errors or incorrect insurance information can result in denials, leading to increased stress and fatigue for staff and patients. Duplication and incorrect processing of bills or estimate errors can confuse patients, complicating patient collections.
Patients may switch providers due to inaccurate estimates or billing errors, affecting your practice’s reputation and causing revenue loss. Automating your admin tasks with digital forms and digital invoices can help reduce these errors. -
Payment Security Risks
Protecting patients' health information is extremely important. Dentists and physicians handle sensitive patient information including health histories, personal data like phone numbers, address, etc. Payment processes with basic security features are vulnerable to data breaches, leading to a lack of trust between the organization and its patients.
Utilizing a secure intake platform like CERTIFY Health, which is PCI-DSS compliant, can help mitigate security breaches. -
Payment Collection Processes
The manual payment collection process can be time-consuming for your front desk staff. Your practice staff needs to track patients, send invoices, and do follow-ups repeatedly. These repetitive tasks divert staff from working on other complex tasks and patient care.
Furthermore, follow-ups can be tiring, when your staff reach out to patients multiple times. Implementing automated payment reminders can prevent payment delays and help practices develop more efficient follow-up strategies. -
Following Updates and Claim Guidelines
Dentists and physicians must understand the legal aspects of healthcare payments and billing codes. While some factors are beyond a facility’s control, managing information to comply with payment policies is crucial.
Investing in automation and advanced technology can help by providing up-to-date information and refining solutions to payment process flaws. This not only ensures adherence to policies but also enhances patient collections and benefits the practice.
Strategies to Improve Patient Collections
1. Implement Clear and Transparent Pricing
- Develop a comprehensive and easily accessible list of common procedures and services, ensuring patients understand the costs upfront to avoid surprises.
- Provide patients a transparent view deductibles, co-insurance, co-pays, and out-of-pocket expenses will apply to their care.
- Discuss cost estimates for treatments with patients beforehand, enabling them to take informed decisions about their expenses.
- Train staff to communicate with patients about the treatment and potential cost.
2. Offer Flexible Payment Plans
- Allow your patients to pay over time with patient patient payment plans tailored to their financial needs.
- Automate installment collection of payments by setting up reminders for timely payments.
- ccept multiple payment methods, including credit cards, FSA, HSA, ACH, and more, to provide convenience to patients.
- Integrate with third-party financing companies specialized in healthcare to help patients apply for loans for medical expenses.
3. Use Automated Intake Platform
- Choose a practice management system like CERTIFY Health that integrates with top EHRs to streamline medical billing and documentation.
- Provide patients with secure online portals to make payments and access their billing information, reducing staff overload.
- Implement automated payment reminders via SMS/email to ensure timely payments.
- Facilitate patient first payment and follow-up payments through electronic systems like Apple Pay or Google Pay using their mobile apps.
How CERTIFY Health can Help Dentists and Physicians?
At CERTIFY Health, we help practices to improve collection rates with secure and efficient payment solutions. Our RCM tools help your staff eliminate administrative stress and fatigue, improving overall efficiency. Your practice can benefit from:
- Automatic payment reminders
- Seamless payment integrations
- Customizable payment plans
- Reduced front desk overload
- Improving revenue collection
- Multiple payment options (CC, HSA, FSA, ACH)
- Eliminate the cost of paper payments
Overcome Challenges with CERTIFY Health
At CERTIFY Health, we leverage years of experience to help practices overcome patient collection challenges. As an innovative digital intake platform, we understand the significance of automating and streamlining collections. Our advanced features tackle payment issues, providing unparalleled patient payment services for dentists and physicians to improve the patient’s experience.
To explore better ways of optimizing patient collections, you can request a demo to determine how we can benefit your practice.
