One of the biggest concerns among healthcare providers is plummeting patient collection rates. A recent report shows that 48% of revenue cycle leaders say it’s the biggest issue they’re facing. Patient collections has become even more worrisome than denials management and staff retention.
A recent market shift partly explains this phenomenon, as patients have begun to cover a larger portion of their care. This puts the customer experience front and center as healthcare organizations grapple with how to make benefits easier to understand, pricing more transparent, and billing less complicated.
The bottom line is that the less stressful the billing experience is for patients, the more likely they will pay on time. When healthcare providers improve patient account resolution processes, they improve the patient-provider relationship and business outcomes. Therefore, it’s important to understand how to optimize these processes.
6 Most Common Patient Account Resolution Challenges
Here are the 6 most common challenges that impact patient account resolution and ways to overcome those challenges.
CHALLENGE #1: Ineffective Patient Communication
Poor communication between providers and patients can lead to misunderstandings about bills and payment expectations.
How to Overcome It => Implement clear, consistent communication strategies and be proactive in engaging with patients across multiple communication channels, including phone, email, text, and patient portals.
CHALLENGE #2: Lack of Payment Options
When payment options are restrictive or inflexible, it makes it difficult for patients to settle balances, which can lead to delayed or missed payments.
How to Overcome It => Offer diverse, omni-channel payment options, such as via online portals and mobile apps, such as Zelle and Venmo. Make paying easier for patients by offering installment plans and auto-pay features.
CHALLENGE #3: Inaccurate or Confusing Billing
When bills contain errors, such as incorrect charges or unclear statements, it can lead to a frustrating patient experience and prolong the time it takes to resolve payment issues.
How to Overcome It => Invest in advanced, automated billing software and conduct regular audits to ensure that billing is accurate.
CHALLENGE #4: Delayed Follow-Up on Outstanding Balances
It’s critical to quickly follow up with patients when they get behind on their payments. Slow or inconsistent follow-up leads to lost revenue and a poor patient experience.
How to Overcome It => Automate follow-up processes to ensure that patients are contacted in a timely way. Implement automatic reminders for overdue balances to allow staff to manage by exception.
CHALLENGE #5: Lack of Transparency in the Billing Process
Patients often feel left in the dark regarding how their bill was calculated, particularly with insurance and out-of-pocket costs.
How to Overcome It => Provide clear cost estimates upfront and maintain ongoing transparency throughout the process.
CHALLENGE #6: Inadequate Customer Support
Patients naturally get frustrated when they encounter Insufficient or poorly trained customer service representatives, which can result in billing issues going unresolved.
How to Overcome It = > Develop effective training programs for customer service representatives so they efficiently and professionally follow billing procedures and are empathic in relating to patients.
Improving Patient Account Resolution Through Better Patient Engagement
It can be challenging to manage patient account resolution, especially as patients today are opting for higher deductible plans that require more out-of-pocket expenses. These issues can be mitigated by focusing on ways to improve billing processes, so patients pay more quickly, reducing the need for prolonged account resolutions. By improving these processes, patients appreciate the interactions they have with customer billing representatives and healthcare organizations enjoy better business outcomes.