How to Make Patient Financing Work for Your Practice

As individuals take on more healthcare financial responsibilities in our rapidly expanding healthcare landscape, many may not have the money to pay for the services they desire or need. It becomes challenging to manage unforeseen healthcare bills. 1 in 4 Americans skips healthcare due to the cost.

Various health financing solutions in the United States assist patients by allowing them to pay for their healthcare treatments over months or years. Patient financing is a system in which the healthcare provider becomes the lender for the amount the patient owes. While this may work in some situations, it also exposes the organization to revenue loss due to unpaid payments.

To help the healthcare practices and make patient financing work for the healthcare. To avoid payment risk and collection expense, organizations can explore alternative healthcare financing approaches as patient payment solutions, including healthcare credit cards, internally and externally funded loan programs, and various healthcare payment models ranging from value-based reimbursement to alternative payment models. 

Here we have shared five tips that can help patient financing work for your practice:

1. Discuss the treatment the patient will undergo

‍Firstly, Patients need to understand the diagnosis and the health risk they are facing and agree on the treatment suggested along with other options to decide on a diagnosis and treatment plan. Some patients want to talk about finances before you've thoroughly explained the treatment plan. Do not get into the money talk until the patient accepts the healthcare procedure. When the patient is on your side and agrees with the treatment plan, figuring out the finances, overcoming obstacles, and developing alternate strategies becomes simple in the later stages.

2. Make Patients aware of payments upfront

In today's world of high-deductible insurance plans, providing an affordable and individualized payment plan is more important than ever. Patients become fully aware and are ready for quality services. Healthcare needs to have transparent information and give patients the healthcare data, healthcare tools, finance tools, and the cost of treatment procedure details. Sometimes, the patient is unaware of the payment responsibility before a healthcare appointment. With the correct patient estimates tool, you can increase transparency and give people a precise, upfront estimate. This estimate provides the patient with more information, so they are not startled when the bill arrives.

3. Cost Transparency and personalize financing

Many patients are surprised about healthcare bills, which cause payment delays after the treatment. The patients are not ready for such high bills. Therefore, it is always better to keep the cost of the therapy transparent. Suppose you want to ensure that the patient accepts some responsibility for figuring out how they intend to pay. When a patient comes to you and asks how they can pay for treatment, don't dive straight into financing options, this makes the patient feel secure. When practices use software like Anodynepay, it becomes transparent for the patient and the healthcare practice as there will be no billing errors, no confusion, and the treatment cost is transparent.

4. Incorporating Empathy while personal financing

People all over the world struggle with finances when it comes to paying healthcare bills, and almost half of Americans don't go to see a doctor because they are scared of the healthcare expenses as they tend to be very costly and put them at the risk of financial debt and are scared of the enormous bills and unaffordability. 90% of people make financial decisions based on emotions, and only 10% do rational thinking. So, helping patients with personal financing and helping them with flexible financing options can help the patients to afford healthcare without hassle. Empathizing with patients' situations makes them feel secure about the healthcare practice.

5. Enhanced cashflows to keep the business running

Practices want to help patients get the treatment they need, but they also need to be profitable. Using the proper technology allows you to meet patients where they are. You can send them mobile bills if they prefer. You can send them the necessary tools if they require a payment plan. Consequently, the patient will have a more seamless experience and will be more inclined to return to your practice and refer family and friends. Revenue collection has increased tenfold for providers who use patient payment software. This software makes it easier for healthcare providers and patients to make payments. Patient payment software frees staff time to focus on providing superior care to patients.

AnodynePay is one of the leading healthcare billing and collection service providers. It can link its services with your existing EHR systems without requiring extra IT infrastructure. We have a team of certified specialists that are experts in patient satisfaction. We ensure that our clients receive the needed results in the specified time frame.