Treating Patients as Consumers

​​“Consumerism” is the latest buzzword in the healthcare industry. Providers increasingly strive to provide the most consumer-friendly experience in all areas of their service, including their billing and accounts receivable.
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What would a consumer-focused financial experience look like in your organization?
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Treating Patients as Consumers

Are You Providing Your Patients with a
​Consumer-Focused Financial Experience?

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“Consumerism” is the latest buzzword in the healthcare industry. Providers increasingly strive to provide the most consumer-friendly experience in all areas of their service, including their billing and accounts receivable.
​
What would a consumer-focused financial experience look like in your organization?

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More HDHPs and HSAs

Increasingly, patients are opting for high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) or health savings accounts (HSAs). In fact, as of 2017, almost 21 million Americans had one or the other—and that number is growing all the time.

Pixabay Image

For healthcare providers, that means patients are becoming more discerning and demanding more value for the medical services they receive. Coupled with higher out-of-pocket costs—and an increasing number of uninsured patients—the situation is presenting financial challenges to providers. They struggle to adapt their A/R processes to collect revenue from this new source while also delivering a satisfactory experience to their consumers.

For example, in a recent survey of 900 healthcare executives, nearly all reported that they still rely on paper-based billing and collection. The same survey indicated that more than half of patients prefer—and were more likely to pay--electronic billing. ​

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Enlisting Help

​But becoming a patient-centered provider that can collect what it’s owed without alienating consumers is not easy. That’s why A/R management companies, such as Reliant Financial Services, are a key component of the trend toward consumer-focused healthcare.

When self-pay and aged insurance receivables are outsourced to a first-party accounts receivable management company that specializes in healthcare, providers are freed up to focus on delivering the highest-quality medical services. Many providers also recognize the potential for financial losses and patient retention problems if they fail to adapt to the new healthcare consumerism.

As Out-of-Pocket Costs Increase, Collections Decrease

Did you know that hospitals collect significantly less from patients with higher out-of-pocket costs? 

Photo by CafeCredit under CC 2.0

According to the most recent study conducted by public accounting firm Crowe Horwath, collection rates for patient accounts with balances greater than $5,000 were four times lower than collection rates for patient accounts with low-deductible health plans.

The study looked at accounting data from 172 hospitals with more than 125 beds each. They found a direct correlation between collection rate decline and patients’ out-of-pocket costs. In addition, consumers with very high-deductible plans pay at a rate similar to that of uninsured patients.

This is not good news for healthcare providers, as uninsured patients (i.e., true “self-pay” patients) generally pay only 6.06% of their total medical costs. Which is why enlisting the services of a healthcare-specific first-party accounts receivable management company, like Reliant, has become even more critical. Not only can a reputable A/R management service recover more revenue on self-pay collections, but they can help provide a truly consumer-friendly financial experience to all your patients. 

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Sources:
Featured Image: Adobe, License Granted
RevCycle Intelligence
AJMC
Health Payer Intelligence
Crowe​