What Patients Want: Flexibility, Personalization, and Self-Service in Healthcare Payments
Written by: Lanae Smithers, Veradigm Associate Manager, Payerpath and Lisa Temporale, Veradigm Sr. Solutions Manager
Nearly half of adults in the U.S. face significant challenges financing their health care—which is unsurprising, given that today’s consumers are paying significantly more out-of-pocket for medical services. From 2013 to 2023, the average family health care premium has increased by 47% and the average annual deductible has increased by 53%. The increase in healthcare expenses, coupled with current economic unpredictability, has led to nearly 4 of every 10 Americans delaying or skipping healthcare visits due to financial constraints. In the case of serious illness, patients may require frequent doctor visits, expensive medications, repeated hospitalization, or other costly interventions, creating an immense financial burden even for patients with health insurance.an immense financial burden even for patients with health insurance.
Today’s healthcare landscape is rapidly evolving, and patient expectations are changing accordingly. Accustomed to the digital convenience and personalized experiences found in retail, banking, travel, and other industries, patients expect the same level of convenience from their healthcare providers, especially when it comes to billing and payments. In the absence of such convenience, customer frustration is escalating, fueled by confusing medical bills and a lack of price transparency.
In a recent survey, 32.5% of patients said they would switch providers for a better healthcare payment experience. To enhance your patients’ healthcare experience, transforming their overall financial experience has become crucial.
Three key pillars are central to this transformation: Flexibility, personalization, and self-service. These 3 pillars can make or break your patients’ financial experience.
Flexibility: Meet patients where they are—online
In other industries, companies have improved customer experience by digitizing their payment methods. For instance, automotive customers can configure and purchase cars online, using fully digital check-in and check-out processes. This has shifted much of the offline market online, greatly improving the customer experience in the process.
Healthcare consumers, accustomed to online payment options in other industries, now want the greater convenience of paying their medical bills online as well. In a recent survey, 85% of consumers reported a preference for paying medical bills online.
At this point, though, the healthcare payment ecosystem is primarily paper-based. Customer statements are primarily delivered by mail, although a recent survey found that only 46% of consumers prefer to receive medical bills by mail—a number that continues to decline. On the other hand, 85% of consumers prefer using some type of electronic payment method to pay medical bills.
To prevent collection challenges, providers need to meet patients where they are. They need to make patients’ payment process easy and user-friendly. Online payment options and automated payment tools offer visibility into patients’ payment activities, promoting transparency and enabling patients to manage their payments proactively. Mobile payment portals, text-to-pay services, and automated reminders can help ensure patients never miss a payment window, eliminating the need for paper statements and phone collections.
Personalization: One size does not fit all
Just as care plans are tailored to patients’ individual health needs, billing should be personalized to accommodate patients’ differing financial situations and communication preferences. Offering flexibility in healthcare payments enables providers to offer a range of payment options to suit patients’ differing circumstances. Consumers want the flexibility to select their preferred payment method, whether that’s a credit or debit card, bank transfer, Health Savings Account, or digital wallet. Patients also want flexibility in payment amounts, the ability to pay bills in full or create a customized payment schedule.
More patients struggle to afford care
With the rise of high-deductible care plans, escalating out-of-pocket costs, and increasing numbers of Americans without health insurance, more and more of today’s patients struggle to afford health care. A 2018 poll conducted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, The New York Times, and the Commonwealth Fund revealed that even patients with health insurance were affected by healthcare’s rising costs. Over half of insured patients still struggle to pay their medical bills, and more than one-third report needing to use all or most of their savings to cover medical expenses.
Today’s healthcare costs can negatively affect the patient experience—in the worst cases, costs can become devastating.
Primary reason for non-payment
Healthcare practices are finding it increasingly difficult to collect patients’ financial responsibility. Collection rates decreased from 54.8% in 2021 to less than 48% in 2022 and 2023—leaving providers with bad debt write-offs. However, sometimes patients aren’t unwilling to pay, but simply lack the payment options they need.
The problem is that the traditional approach to medical billing and collections—treating all patients the same—no longer works. If providers want patients to pay, they need to offer better payment options. They need to prioritize cost transparency and offer affordable payment options tailored to individual patients’ circumstances.
Personalized payment plans
Personalized payment plans can take into account what patients can afford, increasing the likelihood that they will make payments. Establishing a financing program with customizable payment timelines, amounts, and methods allows patients to select the path that best suits their needs. Personalized payment plans can enhance the patient experience by expanding the available options for addressing patients’ financial challenges. Personalized payment plans can help ease the heavy financial burden faced by many patients, especially those with serious illnesses. Patients gain the ability to prioritize their health without the fear of being unable to afford it.
Personalized payment plans enable practices to open their doors to patients who might not be able to meet the rigid requirements of traditional, non-negotiable healthcare bills.
Giving patients more control over their healthcare finances benefits both providers and patients. Patients become more likely to pay when offered personalized payment plans; this, in turn, can measurably improve providers’ financial performance. Improving patients’ financial experience can enhance the overall patient experience, ultimately leading a practice to increased patient volume and improved financial performance.
Self-service: Empowering patients
Today’s healthcare consumers are used to managing their financial responsibilities online. They not only want more flexible payment solutions. They also want the ability to access their bills and make payments anytime, from any location, using the same types of self-service, digital options available in other industries.
It’s time for practices to catch the digital train and provide user-friendly patient portals where patients can easily manage their healthcare finances. Patient portals and other self-service payment options can significantly enhance the patient experience, allowing patients to access financial information outside standard business hours. Patients can pay bills at the most convenient time and location rather than waiting for a busy staff member to assist them.
Digital convenience drives patient satisfaction
The data are clear: Just as consumers have demonstrated a strong preference for electronic payment routes for retail bill payments, banking, and subscription management, more and more patients want the ability to access digital, self-service options for paying their medical bills. They want managing health care payments to be as straightforward and user-friendly as shopping online.
This is why flexible financial options, personalized payment plans, and online self-service portals have become essential to earning patient trust and loyalty.
It’s also why Veradigm has embraced a “Digital-First Approach” to patient billing and payments with our award-winning Payerpath solution. Veradigm Payerpath is a comprehensive suite of revenue cycle management solutions that includes healthcare reimbursement and medical billing software. This solution set allows practices to deliver a simpler, more positive experience to patients while simultaneously reducing the administrative burden on practice staff. If you’re interested in enhancing your patients’ financial experience, to provide your patients with tools for greater flexibility, personalization, and self-service, contact Veradigm today.