How does technology ease your operational challenges and help you increase cash flow? You may not be fully aware of how your organization can benefit from implementing and utilizing software as a service (SaaS) tools. With SaaS solutions becoming not only nice to have but essential for operational efficiency and revenue growth, healthcare organizations that have jumped onboard have seen dramatic results. Yours can prosper, too, by understanding the value of SaaS.
There is evidence of significant SaaS market growth, both near-term and long-term. According to PR Newswire, “The global healthcare software as a service market size is expected to reach $51.7 billion by 2028, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is projected to register a CAGR of 19.5% from 2021 to 2028.” What does this expansion mean for you? SaaS benefits to healthcare organizations have four components: cash flow, convenience, cybersecurity, and collaboration.
Why SaaS?
Before we dive into the four Cs, let’s examine what SaaS means to healthcare. This term refers to software that is licensed on a subscription-based model and centrally hosted. Subscriptions can be yearly, monthly, or even follow a pay-per-use model. Cloud-based healthcare solutions fall under the SaaS category and allow patients and providers to enter and review data in real time. These solutions also scale easily and facilitate remote access to treatment for patients. Healthcare organizations that utilize these services can reduce expenses and increase information access.
And Now … the Four Cs
How do SaaS solutions benefit your organization? Let’s examine the four Cs in detail.
1. Cash flow, or reliably capturing patient payments to decrease days in accounts receivable, helps organizations afford expenses and continue to serve patients. With administrative expenses in healthcare at an all-time high, technology can reduce costs associated with traditional communications and payments. Positive cash flow makes it easier to prioritize care.
Organizations that offer card-on-file options to patients can receive reliable payments with less redundancy and fewer time-consuming follow-up activities. Fewer phone calls to payments means more time for you to focus on care, for your patients and yourself. When cash flow is healthy, expenses like personal protective equipment become easier to manage.
2. Convenience is key when you’re balancing multiple priorities and need to get tasks accomplished quickly and accurately. Technology makes achieving these goals possible. Creating space for patients to digitally register saves time and promotes safety. Digital registration puts the pen-and-clipboard method of inputting information in the past. Patients that utilize digital registration tools can submit health histories, current medical information, insurance information, and payment preference.
Patient financing and card-on-file functionality enable organizations to collect payments while giving patients the chance to pay in ways that are convenient for them. With automatic payment posting enabled in your organization, large volumes of redundant data entry can be a thing of the past. Also, refunds can be completed with just a few clicks, simplifying an otherwise arduous workflow.
3. Cybersecurity protection is essential for healthcare organizations that often find themselves targeted by malicious activity that can compromise data security. SaaS solutions that comply with HIPAA, EMV, and PCI secure sensitive patient information. As the number of data breaches rises throughout the healthcare industry, adopting technology that adds a substantial layer of protection is an important precaution you can take to mitigate risk.
SaaS tools that monitor for fraud, encrypt data through the entire transmission journey, and tokenize payment information are best positioned to safeguard your organization against cyber threats. These secure payment solutions can make the difference between data protection and breach.
4. Collaboration between providers, staff, and patients is paramount to seamless healthcare experiences. SaaS solutions facilitate better interactions. With many physicians utilizing electronic health records to keep track of patient information, SaaS solutions that interface with these records can reduce duplicate work and improve administrative efficiency. SaaS tools can also expedite interdepartmental provider-to-provider communication, making lab and test results available quickly. With modern tools to streamline communications and payments, your healthcare organization can flourish in all types of situations.
When staff can communicate about practice notifications and payments through customized messages ─ both email and text ─ patients are likely to be responsive. These improvements foster better relationships between providers, staff, and patients by taking the friction out and replacing it with ease.
Considering the four Cs, it becomes clear how SaaS solutions can help healthcare practices increase revenue streams, simplify office tasks and payment collections, protect against cyber threats, as well as improve patient experiences.
Why We Are a SaaS-based Company
Rectangle Health’s history in healthcare technology started in 1993, when we began to offer healthcare-specific solutions that create operational efficiency and enhance profitability for practices and large-scale organizations. What started as credit card processing now spans a full suite of payment and engagement features that improve experiences for staff, providers, and patients.
Our corporate mission is to simplify the business side of healthcare. Combining Card on File, Customizable Messages, Text-to-Pay, Digital Registration Forms, Patient Financing, and Online Payments, our centrally hosted, subscription-based solution, Practice Management Bridge®, has driven results for our many clients. Automatically posting payments to any practice management system, Practice Management Bridge frees up your day from tedious tasks that can bog you down. Our mission is to simplify the business side of healthcare so you can prioritize giving care, and our SaaS status allows us to do just that.
Utilizing Secure Payment Solutions in Practice Management Bridge
Even though SaaS solutions continue to transform the healthcare industry, there are still challenges with data breaches and their implications. A payment and engagement platform like our Practice Management Bridge offers greater protection against data breaches. In this platform, the following considerations are taken with every transaction:
- Monitoring for identity fraud with Address Verification System (AVS)
- Protecting payment information with P2PE and tokenization
- Supporting EMV, PCI, and HIPAA compliance
Practice Management Bridge is the SaaS platform you can count on. Whatever your organization’s unique challenges are, Rectangle Health is here to address them with our healthcare technology expertise.
References
- Grand View Research, Inc. (2022, February 7). Healthcare Software as a Service Market Size Worth $51.7 Billion By 2028: Grand View Research, Inc. PR Newswire. Retrieved from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/healthcare-software-as-a-service-market-size-worth-51-7-billion-by-2028-grand-view-research-inc-301476289.html
