Patient-Friendly Billing® Improves Collectability

---

​​Patients who don’t pay their bills can make things very difficult for providers trying to maintain a profitable medical practice.

At the same time, billing procedures that are confusing, inaccurate or unfriendly make it difficult for patients to remit payment.

  ​

Patient Friendly Billing^® addresses both issues.

---

Patient-Friendly Billing^®​ Improves Collectability

Best Practices for Providing a
​Positive Patient Experience on the Back End

---

Patients who don’t pay their bills can make things very difficult for providers trying to maintain a profitable medical practice. At the same time, billing procedures that are confusing, inaccurate or unfriendly make it difficult for patients to remit payment.

To improve your chances of being paid on time, a Patient Friendly Billing® procedure is key. Research conducted by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) has revealed a serious need for medical financial communications to be “clear, concise, correct and patient friendly.” (See sidebar, “The Patient Friendly Billing® Project.”)

Indeed, the COVID pandemic has only increased patients' demands for price transparency, payment plan options, and patient-friendly medical billing.

​Medical Billing Best Practices

A positive billing experience can generate word-of-mouth referrals and increase approval ratings on social media sites. In fact, recent surveys have revealed that 88% of patients with a highly positive billing experience indicated they would recommend a healthcare provider to friends. And more than 75% of patients who were satisfied with their billing experiences paid their bills in full or in installments.

The following best practices can increase the likelihood of a positive billing experience for your patients:

The Patient Perspective 

​Design your financial communications and billing process from the patient’s perspective. For instance, give patients the option to include an advocate or family member in the financial conversation. Provide patients with contact information for financial assistance programs along with their discharge paperwork or at their final outpatient visit.

​Keep all communications respectful and courteous. And whenever possible, do not communicate financial information during the medical encounter.

Consolidated Billing 

​Coordinate with other healthcare providers and insurers to consolidate and streamline the billing process and prevent duplication. If your organization is not yet sufficiently integrated to offer this service, you may still wish to work with your care partners to determine how a consolidated statement could be produced.

Receiving multiple bills for what the patient perceives to be a single care event can confuse and frustrate them, leading to slow pay or no pay.

The Patient Friendly Billing Project^®

HFMA’s Patient Friendly Billing^® project is designed to promote clear, concise, and correct patient-friendly financial communications. To accomplish this goal, the HFMA offers numerous resources to help healthcare providers improve their patient billing process. Such as:

• Reconstructing Hospital Pricing Systems
• Consumerism in Health Care
• Patient Friendly Billing Project^®: Case Studies in Customer Service
• Patient Financial Communications Best Practices

To download these and other helpful materials, click here.

Say What You Mean

When preparing financial communications, use terminology and formatting that the average reader can easily understand. Medical statements should be written in clear, jargon-free language, so that patients can immediately identify the purpose of the communication. For instance, placing balance information toward the top of the statement helps patients quickly determine their course of action.

--Article Continues Below--

Be Succinct

Keep billing communications concise, providing the minimum amount of detail needed to convey your message. Long, drawn-out statements are a waste of time for the provider and confusing to the patient. 

Accuracy, Accuracy, Accuracy

Ask your staff to double-check all medical statements for accuracy. Make sure these bills do not include estimates of liabilities, incomplete information, typos or other errors. Sending a patient the wrong medical bill is one sure way to lose that patient to another, better organized provider.

Do You Have a Designated
Billing Rep?

You can further enhance your Patient Friendly Billing^® process by designating a customer service contact to handle patients’ billing questions.

When patients can connect with a particular individual who is familiar with all financial aspects of their medical care, the possibility of consumer frustration and ill will is reduced.

Taking this level of service a step further, the account representative could offer to contact insurance carriers, government agencies, or other healthcare facilities on the patient’s behalf.

Process Improvement

Continuously improve your billing processes by incorporating patient feedback.

Why It All Matters

A patient’s first and last experience is not with the physician or nurses, but with revenue cycle staff. While initial conversations at registration are critical, a final negative experience can leave your patients with a poor opinion of your organization -- even if the experience at the front end was positive.  

On the other hand, improving the back end of the revenue cycle process with Patient Friendly Billing® can enhance patient satisfaction, increase patient loyalty and generate new referrals. As an added bonus, it can also reduce bad debt by increasing the likelihood that patients will remit self-pay balances in a timely manner. 

At RFS

At Reliant Financial Services, our revenue professionals handle all aspects of self-pay accounts, right up to the last follow-up on the patient’s balance. Making sure our billing is patient friendly is part of our job. As the final contact with your patients, we’re committed to leaving them with a favorable impression of you and your facility.

---

Patient Friendly Billing^® is a registered trademark of Healthcare Financial Management Association. (HFMA)

---

Sources:
Featured Image: Adobe, License Granted
RevCycle Intelligence
Healthcare Financial Management Association
Medical Group Management Association
Patient Engagement Hit