Written by Adrienne Parkhurst on Jul 20, 2021
Five Considerations to Help Level Up Your Patient Payment Experience
Overnight, COVID-19 required your teams to scramble and rapidly set up remote workstations, contactless patient payment options, and new billing processes. Urgency, necessity, and tenacity got you to this point. Now is the time to stop, take a moment, and define a strategic approach for your digital patient payment experience over the next 5-10 years.
As Valerie Barckoff, Principal at Windham Brannon and Co-Founder at SHOAR states, “[i]t’s time to pause and see if the strategies you’ve developed are going to be there to help you be successful long-term.” It’s important to take time to step back and build a digital patient payment strategy to prepare you for the next wave of change that’s been accelerated by the effects of COVID-19.
Our last patient survey, conducted prior to COVID-19, showed that 60% of patient payments were made online. Like it or not, your patients’ demand for contactless payment options will continue to increase. In fact, when we released our that Patient Payment Technology Report, it showed that the payment and billing process greatly influences patient loyalty. Consumers are more likely to provide this loyalty when flexible online payment options are available.
The healthcare providers that proactively plan a strategy to meet and exceed patient’s demands will achieve greater patient engagement and loyalty.
We pulled together an amazing group of revenue cycle and treasury leaders to discuss how COVID-19 urgently reshaped the patient payment experience. In this informative webinar, they offer excellent advice based on their experiences adapting to the “new normal.”
As part of our Healthcare Fintech Webinar Series Ron Collins, System Manager for Merchant Card Operations at CommonSpirit Health, and Valerie Barckhoff, Principal at Windham Brannon and Co-Founder at SHOAR, joined Salucro’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development Rebecca Truscott and AccuReg’s Vice President of Business Development Clint Jones to discuss the future of patient financial engagement and how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of contactless payments.
They advise revenue cycle and treasury leaders to follow these considerations to help level up your patient payment experience and provide an optimal digital experience for your patients.
-
Define your overall strategy. Take a step back and define your 5–10-year plan. Be sure to focus on holistic approaches so you can reap the benefits of a fully integrated digital patient payment solution. What will patients expect in the digital payment space? How can you leverage payment technology to improve the patient experience? How and where will your teams work?
-
Understand your current state. From your hardware to infrastructure, you need to understand what’s working and what needs to change in your organization to meet patient’s expectations. It’s critical for you to be realistic about your hardware, software, and human capital constraints. The earlier you identify gaps in your technology and processes, the better decisions you’ll make with choosing the best digital patient payment solution.
-
Build a flexible payment model. Patients expect multiple payment options. Some want to pay with cash, while others want to use NFC phone technology like Apple Pay or Samsung Pay. You need to have multiple solutions. This may require creative internal and external collaborations.
-
Avoid working in silos. Be proactive with inclusion - identify and partner with all areas of your organization. Too often, key stakeholders are unaware of technology projects until implementation. This can cause unnecessary friction between teams and delay your digital patient payment rollout.
-
Learn from other industries. Take a look at industries that already integrate contactless payment technologies into their checkout and workflow. What can we learn from their models? How we can we integrate their best practices into our digital patient payment solution?
From scheduling appointments to viewing testing results, patients already expect a good digital experience from their healthcare providers. The patient payment experience is no exception. Patients will continue to demand more contactless payment options - are you ready?
As you make your 5-10 year plan, consider what patient payments will look like in that period and beyond. Rebecca Truscott, Salucro’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, states that “contactless payments will likely be seen superseding all payments of today in 10+ years, and that we’re already seeing that internationally.”
Patient expectations and preferences for contactless payments will continue to grow. Make sure you’re ready for the next wave of change in the digital patient experience and listen to this enlightening webinar.