Collecting patient payments is a challenge for nearly every medical provider. According to a 2021 survey, about 10.8% of U.S. families had trouble paying their medical bills over the previous 12-month period.
Patients can fall behind on medical bills for a range of reasons. Insurance — especially mental health coverage — is often insufficient, and they may struggle with high deductibles. Complicated billing processes make it even more challenging for patients to keep up with bills. Additionally, though mental health professionals are trained to have difficult conversations with clients, they are often not trained to handle conversations about billing and payment, which can compound the problem and make collecting late payments even harder.
Fortunately, even under these circumstances, there are ways to streamline and simplify the process to set clients up for success. Implementing these 3 strategies can make collecting payments less challenging while also giving clients a superior experience.
1. Offer digital payment options, including via mobile
The easier you make it for clients to pay, the more likely they are to do so. Payment mobile app use is booming, particularly among Gen Z and Millennial consumers — who also happen to be more likely to accrue medical debt. Nearly half of all U.S. households use a mobile payment app like Google Pay, Paypal, Venmo, or CashApp to pay for services, including healthcare. Enabling alternative payment methods can therefore make it easier for clients to pay you.
Telehealth use continues to climb and rose another 7% in January 2023. Telehealth is especially valuable for mental health appointments; a recent survey found that 49% of clients would use telehealth to access mental health care. Enabling digital payment options is a key part of being able to offer telehealth appointments.
2. Automate payment reminders
Targeted, automated payment reminders improve patient adherence to treatment protocols. Incorporating modern technology with automated reminders helps clients keep their mental health appointments, fill their prescriptions, and follow through on other actions recommended by their providers.
Likewise, automated billing reminders work the same way. In fact, 44% of patients pay their medical bills faster after receiving a phone call or digital notification about their bill, and 49% of patients said they would pay by text if that option were available.
Automated reminders don’t just improve the likelihood of bill payment — they also free front desk staff from follow-up calls, allowing them to focus on other important tasks. Without the burden of the collection process weighing you down, your mental health practice can work smarter, not harder. Not to mention, robotic process automation (RPA) eliminates inefficiencies in the internal billing process as the bots take charge of the most error-prone part of billing to eliminate human errors.
3. Implement data security
Whenever health information or financial information comes into play, security is a priority. Your clients want to know that their protected health information (PHI), like their diagnosis, is secure, along with their financial information, like their credit card number.
Digital payment systems explicitly designed for medical practices significantly reduce the risk. Manual processes are far less secure and often require data to be stored either in paper files or on a laptop or computer in a spreadsheet — and most data breaches are the result of stolen papers or laptops left unattended.
Making the move to a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant digital payment solution for healthcare practices is the smart choice for protecting yourself and your clients. This means the platform you choose should not use or disclose PHI unless permitted, use appropriate safeguards to protect PHI, and mitigate any harmful effect from the disclosure of PHI. It’s imperative you have a solution that ensures that all PHI and payment information is secure and protected.
Digital solutions like mobile wallets, payment apps, automated reminders, and digital payment systems streamline payment and make it much easier for your patients to manage their payment obligations. Patients expect their healthcare to have a digital component, including online payment options, and mental health practices that offer these are more attractive to both current and prospective clients.
Anthony Comfort
Anthony Comfort is Vice President of Product, Revenue Cycle at Tebra, a leading cloud-based healthcare technology platform.
