A holistic payments strategy creates a better patient experience

During a recent webinar hosted by KeyBank and RevSpring, healthcare stakeholders spoke about creating a holistic digital experience that meets patient and provider needs. Pete Wheeler, head of healthcare and insurance payments at KeyBank, spoke on the topic, along with James Monroe, vice president of institutional healthcare payments at KeyBank; Casey Williams, senior vice president of engagement and payment applications at RevSpring; Andrew Benson, chief revenue officer at Envision Radiology; and Geoff Stenger, senior vice president at Kauffman Hall.

As the panelists explained, healthcare organizations need to understand the challenges patients face so they can create a payment strategy that meets their needs and provides a return on investment.

The trends redefining digital payments

Healthcare companies once had a “myopic focus” on payment strategy, Wheeler said, focusing only on the payment portion of the experience. Today, a digital payment strategy strives to simplify and digitize the total payment experience and ensure the experience reflects patient preferences. “From the bank’s perspective, we have the privilege of working with commercial and institutional clients but consumers as well, and we can make a connection between what we are seeing from a consumer perspective and what we are seeing in healthcare organizations,” says Monroe. “There’s clearly an increased demand for a personalized experience that has pushed this forward.”

Mobile access is at the top of that list. The experience that healthcare providers once were trying to provide through a computer screen now must be provided through a mobile device. Consumers control much of their lives from their mobile devices, and they expect the same experience with their healthcare needs. Stenger added that patients also want a simplified experience when they settle their bill. They want to understand their bill and how to pay it, so they can make informed decisions about their healthcare. To provide this experience, healthcare organizations need to know their patients and understand their preferences.  

To that end, healthcare organizations today are engineering outcomes and pursuing active customer engagement. “Providers want to create a complete experience from end to end and manage that experience from the first touch you have with a patient to the last touch that you have with a patient,” said Williams. That requires maintaining consistency through the cycle of care. For example, a payment plan estimate provided at the beginning of care should remain consistent in a post-adjudicated environment.

Realizing the return benefits of payment technology

While a seamless payment experience is important to driving patient loyalty, healthcare providers also need to see a return on that investment. At some point, a healthcare organization must ask the finance department and business leaders to sign off. Stenger said the best way to move forward on a payment strategy and align with the organization’s financial requirements is to choose the metrics that you want to solve. “To gain support for the business case, you might have a lot of stakeholders that have to buy into it.”

Benson reported that Envision Radiology has made service collection its No. 1 goal. The organization recently increased its upfront payments from 50% to 75%. Benson admits this is “a little aggressive,” but it improves overall collection rates and ultimately reduces bad debt. Both outcomes benefit the business and help lead to the adoption of more digital processes.  

In an audience survey during the webinar, 64% of respondents said they are starting to implement a digital experience for patients. As more providers move into the digital space, they should focus on creating a digital experience tailored to the healthcare industry and improving patient service.

Wheeler recalled a quote during the webinar, “Paying your healthcare bill is not the same as buying a refrigerator.” He added, “When you can harness the data behind healthcare propensity to pay, you get better results.”

To learn more about digital payment solutions, connect with an expert.