Patient Engagement Is the Key to Improving Provider Collections

Patient collections have long been among the most significant operational and financial headaches for medical providers – resulting in lost time and money.

Patient engagement primarily depends on two factors – making time to understand patient needs, then connecting patients with the resources that fulfill those needs.

Patient engagement is of particular importance in the payment process. By taking steps to better engage patients – such as delivering the right payment message to each patient at the right time, boosting price transparency, and offering omnichannel payment options, and – providers can enhance collection rates.

An essential element to decrease the lag between billing and collection is to verify patients’ preferred method of communication and consistently use that channel.

An omni-channel approach can include communications via email, call center, Interactive Voice Response, paper, kiosks, point of service, guest pay, payment plans, or text message.