Healthcare systems and practices are seeking fast, data-rich products and services, yet legacy core systems are often antiquated or multi-layered. These challenges are acute for practitioners and the patients they serve. It often falls to the provider to search and connect their organizations to the vast and growing digital ecosystem.
It helps to understand the need for more technological solutions within the healthcare industry, the benefits of embracing healthcare technology and how your organization can initiate patient payment automation technology. Learn more about the important role payment processing automation can play in bettering the healthcare industry.
Desperately Seeking Billing Solutions
Friction is widespread in the healthcare industry, and the continual hot topic of debate surrounds how to expand access and manage outrageous costs. Financial blockages and issues only add to the healthcare market’s woes, with billing inefficiencies taking up a portion of healthcare spending.
In addition to inefficiencies, medical billing must overcome these problems:
- On-time payments: Whether from an insurance company or the patients themselves, securing a medical payment on time can be challenging. Without the right billing software, collecting payments on time can be nearly impossible.
- Payment accessibility: Healthcare providers that offer fewer ways of making a payment tend to see a decline in on-time payments. Patients need increased accessibility to payments and multiple payment method options.
- Patient education: Patients need to be informed about their billing options to complete their payments. More easy-to-use, accessible and automated payment methods will help with this issue.
- Filing multiple claims: Having to file multiple claims can be a frustrating experience, especially for specialty providers. Without a mass claim creation tool, staff members must file each claim individually, which negatively impacts the practice’s efficiency and clinical workflow.
- Denials: A denied claim is both frustrating to receive and threatening to a provider’s bottom line. Staying on track and accomplishing goals can take extra time for staff members when medical billing codes are constantly changing all over the field.
- Revenue loss: Many factors can contribute to revenue loss. Without automated billing, revenue loss can often be attributed to menial errors and mistakes. Technological tools help minimize revenue loss, making it easier for providers to reach their financial goals.
Payment processing systems and technology can address these pain points by granting practices quicker access to funds and providing more precise data collection of insurance coverage. It is imperative for the healthcare industry to embrace new technology for the sake of both its own operations and its patients.
Currently, the aim is to deliver a seamless experience to both the patient as the consumer and staff. It is remiss to only focus on the patient when the experience depends on both patient and staff. Patients and staff both leverage technology in their daily lives and want it to work for them in every possible area.
Benefits of Automating Patient Payments
Making the transition from paper-based processes to payment automation technology comes with numerous advantages for both healthcare providers and their patients. Specifically, the top benefits of patient payment automation include:
- Efficiency: Automated data entry and reporting leads to an increase in accuracy while lowering the overall processing costs. As pressure rises for practices to cut costs and improve performance, electronic remittance advice notices and electronic funds transactions streamline workflow for efficient operations.
- Quicker payments: Processing payments electronically is far faster than the traditional method, which means lower accounts receivable days outstanding as well as quicker accounts receivable updates. With automatic deposits, a practice will also be able to speed up its cash availability to improve cash flow.
- Better claims administration: Payment processing automation gives healthcare providers tools to manage any claim denials and speed up secondary insurance filings.
- Improved risk management: Switching to payment collection automation eliminates the risk of paper checks from patients getting misplaced, lost or stolen.
- Enhanced patient experience: Patients want a simple, fast and reliable digital interaction when completing their payment. Practices can meet these expectations by providing automated payment solutions. Payment automation technology that is convenient and easy to use will increase patient satisfaction.
- Simple setup process: It only takes a short amount of time for staff to enroll patients in the automated payment system. Once they are signed up, the patient should not have any complications with their medical billing from then on.
- Custom patient communication: Instead of mailing patients their statements, a practice can use payment automation technology to send patients customized SMS text messages, email payment reminders and automated voice messages.
- Increased patient convenience: Automated payment solutions allow practices to give their patients more payment flexibility by meeting them on their terms and connecting with them on the move. Certain automated payment plans even allow patients to set up recurring payments.
- Convenient operations with one-time patients: Payment collection automation is especially helpful for one-time patients. Automated solutions enable practices to easily notify one-time patients about their bills via text or email. This type of technology increases patient collections and may even turn short-term patients into return patients.
There Is a Way to Automate Patient Payments
Automation is at the forefront of expediting the healthcare transaction. From clean claim submission to treatment transparency, there is much to gain when the practice embraces automation in its workflow. Practice Management Bridge® by Rectangle Health aims to solve problematic workflows by merging disparate systems and uniting all points of payments. It provides payment processing tools for the practice to communicate patient responsibility clearly and accurately. It allows patients to pay anytime, anyhow, from anywhere and over time — from in-office point of care payments to SMS text billing.
Payments in the healthcare industry will continue to expand significantly in the coming years. We at Rectangle Health work exclusively with providers and create solutions that meet the needs of the business. We have focused our energy, attention and intellect on solving the problems we’ve heard from practices across every healthcare field and across the nation for over 25 years. Practice Management Bridge® by Rectangle Health serves over 60,000 providers by adding true value to their staff and patients.
Get Automated Patient Payment Solutions From Rectangle Health
You can find a wide variety of automated patient payment solutions available from Rectangle Health. From online payments and mobile payments to customizable messages and contactless payment options, our automated solutions are what your practice needs to operate more efficiently and effectively.
All of the technology available with Rectangle Health is built to decrease medical practices’ accounts receivable and ensure their financial stability by securing patient payments. In this way, Rectangle Health helps reduce the administrative burden on practices and makes the payment process stress-free for patients.
If you’re ready to get paid faster by patients, reduce your practice’s accounts receivables and alleviate the pressure on your office manager, contact Rectangle Health today about our automated patient payment solutions.
