3 ways to make billing and payments part of a great patient journey

Strategies for uniting great patient experience and optimized revenue cycle management.

Today’s patient experience (PX) is often intertwined with the concept of a journey in the minds of most providers. PX has come to encompass every touchpoint a patient has before, during, and after they receive care from a provider.

While accessing care, following up with clinicians, and adhering to care plans are each a focus of the PX conversation, patient payments and billing is often minimized or ignored. Perhaps these interactions are thought of as inherently negative, purely transactional, or just not as important as other steps on the patient journey.

But patient payments are a key pillar of both revenue cycle management (RCM), and any successful patient experience strategy. Over 75 million Americans are on high-deductible health plans, and the average premium for employer-sponsored coverage has increased to over $7,000 according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The broad increase in patients’ direct investment in their health is a key factor driving increased consumerization across the industry in recent years and the current emphasis on pricing transparency.

At Talkdesk, we work with providers committed to reimagining the patient experience, which absolutely includes billing and payments. Here are 3 key areas of opportunity for improving the patient payments experience:

1. Meet patients where they are.

How does a typical patient currently receive payment information from your organization? Odds are good that they would get printed and mailed bills prior to 2020—with 78% of patients still using paper bills in healthcare as of 2019. The pandemic accelerated a major shift toward contactless and paperless billing across industries, including healthcare. But 28% of patients in 2021 say they still aren’t even given the option of emailed statements. Further, most patients want more convenience than simple emailed PDFs, with 85% preferring an electronic payment method for bills according to JP Morgan.

The data leaves no doubt that the Amazon moment in healthcare extends to the patient payment experience that often lags far behind what consumers see in other industries. But providers cannot be expected to deliver 1-click payments overnight. So how can you improve today?

Using an omnichannel strategy that accounts for each patient’s preferred method of communication is a foundational step for reminder outreach, even if the ideal payment method is not feasible. For example: text message links to statements can offer patients convenience, while follow-ups on other channels–like voice or email–can maximize awareness and avoid friction on any particular mode of communication. When 74% of patients say that their preferred channel of engagement depends on the context, providers must have the flexibility to engage patients on their terms.