RCM Operations… This One’s For You

We talk about our results often. For us, we know it’s a real differentiator and a clear indicator of an effective solution.  If you want to capture more patient payments OR need to drive down the time and cost to capture them, we know we can deliver on all these fronts (as we have shown time and time again). 

But there are other ways to measure effectiveness that make for a successful RCM partnership.  A good partner isn’t blind to the fact that a good ROI doesn’t make up for the operational challenges that can often come with a new partnership.  Improved outcomes shouldn’t come at the expense of a frustrated staff and dissatisfied patients. We probably haven’t shouted enough about these other things.  Well, that’s what this is for… 

While optimizing patient payment results will remain our #1 focus, below is a description of additional measures that our RCM partners have identified to greatly improve the efficiency of your operations. 

Decreased Call Volume

There are a quite few potential issues that can lead to a high volume of patient calls, but a really important one that we see is a lack of true self-service payment options.  Self-service payment success is a great barometer for other aspects of your patient billing process.  Every self-service online payment is an indicator that a patient was successfully driven to view their bill, they  understood their statement, agreed with their balance, and were presented with the payment options they needed to take action.   

A recent study by Visa on U.S. consumer payments showed that 82% of consumers were either Very Likely or Extremely Likely to seek self-service online payment options before contacting the biller.  Makes sense, nobody wants to talk to a stranger about their individual financial circumstances.  

In looking at payments from our busiest time of the day (which happens to be between noon and 1 PM in each respective time zone), 78% of the payments being made are online, self-service by the patient.  That’s more than ¾ of payments that don’t require a staff’s time and are either paid in full or set up on an automated payment plan.  That means 78% of patient accounts with no more follow-up action needed. 

Not all payments are created equal

We hear it all the time, “We’re just happy if we can get the patient to pay any amount.”  In fact, a lot of organizations promote their payment conversion rates based on any type of payment, regardless of whether it's partial, full or scheduled.  We’re here to tell you that partial payments are to be avoided if you want to ensure a smooth operation.  

Patients will more often than not choose the path of least resistance.  Even patients who are fully-capable of paying the full balance will choose to pay just a piece of the amount if given the option.  The more partial payments you have, the more opportunity for reconciliation headaches and the more additional follow-up that has to be done for the remaining balance.  

Success, to us, is actually completing a balance, not just collecting part of it.  Out of all our transactions, over 80% are made for the full payment amount.  The other 20% are payments either scheduled to auto draft on a future date or installments as part of an automated payment plan.  All represent current or future guaranteed revenue, unlike partial payments which represent guaranteed confusion and efforts for your staff. 

Intelligent reporting and bill history

What about for those patients who do have questions and need to talk to someone about their bill?  A big part of maximizing your staff’s efficiency and minimizing the average call time is making sure your staff has the tools to understand what’s going on and to take a certain action.  

When was the bill in question created?  When and via what method has it been delivered/reminded to the patient?  What actions has the patient already taken with the bill?  Have they already been to the payment screen and attempted to execute a payment or set up a plan?  

An efficient and helpful conversation requires all of these answers to be presented in one place and alongside the same bill the patient is referencing.  Furthermore, your staff should have the ability to send electronic bills to the patient, in-real-time, while they have them on the line.  Or better yet, execute a payment on their behalf with minimal clicks. 

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