Articles, Uncategorized

How to use price transparency to your advantage

Jun 8, 2021

Changing consumer demands mean healthcare organizations must adopt pre-service payment strategies.

The cost of healthcare falls more on patients today than it did 10 years ago and, now, amounts to 35% of provider revenue. This rise in patient responsibility has created new challenges for healthcare organizations as consumers become more aware of their costs.

Price transparency rulings, in effect since January 1, 2021, were intended to create competition in healthcare. Now, consumers can get estimates on their total costs before scheduling an appointment. Consumers can shop for the best prices on some services, creating an exit point in the patient journey and the potential for lost income.

However, these challenges present new opportunities for healthcare organizations. It starts with shifting your collection strategies from post-service to pre-service and point-of-service payments. You must meet the patients where they are and give them the experience they want.

Revising your revenue cycle is critical, and you must reimagine it with your patients in mind.

“A lot of times, you get the service first, and then, you pay after. But in all those cases you get a price. Healthcare is the only one you don’t often you don’t know the price.”

New Demands Mean Healthcare Needs Pre-service Payments

Price-conscious consumers should mean you look at this as a retail model. Like how consumers search for the best car price, they now look for the best price for imaging services. These and other shoppable services become points where you can lose revenue to competitors.

Your consumers want good, reliable estimates, and you should want to give estimates to your consumers. Research has shown:

  • 40% of people don’t understand charge details and what you’ve billed them
  • 32% of people didn’t follow up after a visit because of an outstanding bill
  • 67% have received a medical bill they couldn’t pay in full

HFMA research shows that 74% of people are willing and able to pay up to $1,000 per year. However, poorly designed, complicated or badly delivered billing communication surprises 60% of those patients with unexpected, inconsistent or unclear healthcare bills.

“Two analogies are restaurants and car repairs,” explains Howard Bright, VP of Patient Engagement at RevSpring. “A lot of times, you get the service first, and then, you pay after. But in all those cases you get a price. Healthcare is the only one you don’t often you don’t know the price.”

Engaging the Consumer During the Patient Journey Opens Up Pre-service Payments

Engaging with your consumer where they are, using their tools, makes it easier for you to communicate with them. Also, it helps improve their overall experience with your organization. The importance of a digital strategy cannot be overstated.

Often called a digital doorway, this strategy creates places where consumers can interact with your organization. Digital doorways in healthcare provide a convenient, comprehensive bridge between patients and providers, encompassing every aspect of the healthcare experience.

Patients want these options, too. For a healthcare organization, though, a digital doorway strategy can bring a lot of benefits:

  • 30% reduction in engagement costs
  • 95% attendance rate when patients confirm appointments digitally
  • 20 times more engagement with omnichannel communications

Make sure your digital doorway strategy has modern payment capabilities. Options like Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, text-to-pay and a secure card on file give more options and convenience to your consumers. If you ask for payment early in the patient journey, you can reduce your days in AR and your bad debt.

Your patients want these options, and they want to understand what their money is paying for before they get service from you. It’s a winning strategy.

Making a Case for Pre-service Collections

Pre-service and point-of-service payments make an impact on your revenue cycle. Research shows pre-service and POS payment strategies can reduce bad debt by 4%. You can realize these benefits, too. Find out how in our free, on-demand webinar.

Webinar

Reimagining the Patient Journey with 5 Pre-service Collection Tools

ON-DEMAND WEBINAR

Learn how your healthcare organization can thrive in a consumer-oriented reality by implementing pre-service and point-of-service collections.

WATCH NOW

Karie Bostwick

VP of People and Compliance

As VP of People and Compliance at Revenue Enterprises, Karie Bostwick oversees People functions including recruiting, training, onboarding, engagement and satisfaction. Additionally, she is responsible for compliance training, oversight and monitoring.

Karie has a long history of working in the revenue cycle support industry. Her skills span leadership, operations start up, policies and procedures development, operations workflow, budgeting and client management.

She is passionate about the experience of our people, patients and the Healthcare clients we serve and believes that a team of diverse, talented and motivated individuals working together toward a common goal can make a difference.

Robert Sterett

VP of Information Technology

As a transformational leader Robert Sterrett has leveraged his 20 years of experience to build effective service lines and exceptional teams. In his role as VP of Information Technology at Revenue Enterprises, Robert excels at taking a unique, balanced, and strategic approach to technology leadership with people first for the best possible outcome. Using his experience from engineering, project management and service line management he takes a multi-faceted approach to ensure the right people are in the correct position coupled with the best technology to meet or exceed all expectations from security to compliance and business continuity.

Robert’s leadership style lends itself to building long term relationships and has consistently been a relied upon strength in many organizations. Over Robert’s time as an IT operational and project leader, he has spent significant time in both hands-on technology facing roles and client centric management roles to bring the best solutions that strive to meet the business and client needs.

Focusing heavily on his personal development skills and opportunities, Robert continues to foster coaching and mentorship relationships everywhere in his life, and the lives around him.

Douglas Dunbar

VP of Sales & Marketing

As VP of Sales and Marketing for Revenue Enterprises, Douglas Dunbar leads with a passion for building strategic partnerships, nurturing relationships, and upholding customer service excellence. In his role, Doug focuses on marketing and brand strategy, sales team leadership, and working closely with members of the management team to best serve company goals.

Doug has over 28 years of National sales and marketing call/contact center leadership, with 10 years of service specifically at Revenue Enterprises. Currently, Doug serves as part of Wyoming HFMA Chapter leadership and has held various roles in Colorado HFMA Chapter leadership for over 9 years.

In his spare time, Doug is very family oriented. Additionally, he loves traveling, cycling, golfing, fishing, hunting, and boating.

Kris Brumley, MBA

SVP/COO

As SVP/COO of Revenue Enterprises, Kris Brumley is a collaborative partner within the executive team and a leader for operational functions across the organization. Kris productively shares vision, drives innovation, and supports those around her in a way that elevates them and fosters continuous improvement and results. She has helped create a supportive environment for clients resulting in 98% client retention and a 65% NPS score for all clients and 75% for top clients by revenue.

Kris possesses an MBA in data analytics and has twenty-five years of experience in the healthcare industry, with 19 specifically in revenue cycle. She brings a wealth of customer service experience to her role and has worn many hats at Revenue Enterprises including Director of Business Development, EBO Division Director, and VP of Client Experience Management.

In her personal life, Kris is as busy outside of work as inside. She values spending time with her family, and enjoys fishing, hiking, traveling and interior decorating and design.

Timothy (Tim) Brainerd

CEO

As CEO of Revenue Enterprises for almost 20 years, Tim Brainerd leads by example. He promotes a shared vision and stewards a culture of Integrity, Passion, and Respect. He has assembled and empowered high-performing talent and teams to support customers, facilitate strategic planning and manage the capital of the company. Under his leadership, Revenue Enterprises has doubled in size three times over the past fifteen years while maintaining a culture of caring and gratefulness.

Tim has close to four decades of revenue cycle experience, including nineteen years with RSI
Enterprises. He has been a past president of Colorado Chapter of the HFMA and a presenting speaker on the topic of Leadership. He is a fifteen-year member of Vistage International, the world’s largest CEO coaching and peer advisory organization for small and midsize business leaders.

Raised in the Midwest, Tim values humble principles like being respectful, caring, passionate, self-reliant, and most importantly grateful. His most important lesson and the lesson he hopes to pass on in all relationships is living the Golden Rule–do unto others as you would have them do unto you. He is intentional in his choices and believes in making decisions, taking action, being accountable, and loving your neighbors.

Whenever possible, Tim spends his time with his wife of nearly forty years, his adult children, and his grandchildren. His hobbies include fishing, golfing, traveling as well as game nights and sharing great food with his family.