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.

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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? 

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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​