For over a decade now providers have been told about the benefits of online billing and payment in healthcare. Its adoption offers a wonderful opportunity to improve the business of healthcare for both providers and patients at the same time. Despite its benefits, why have some in the healthcare industry resisted online billing and payment?
Challenges in Healthcare Online Billing and Payment
More and more Americans have taken their key financial transactions online. A 2008 Fiserv study found that 67.9 million households—or 80 percent of the estimated 85.1 million U.S. online households—use online banking services, up from 63.4 million in 2007 (Coping During the Crisis, Fiserv, Oct. 2008).
However, some areas of the healthcare industry still show tepid interest in adopting similar practices. Healthcare has occupied a unique position in the American marketplace: Unlike a consumer’s electric bill or banking relationship, much of healthcare is a non-reoccurring financial proposition. In the past it has made sense for consumers to establish accounts, passwords, and user names for a monthly bill. But for many patients, healthcare payments are unpredictable in frequency and span over multiple physicians, labs, and hospitals, eliminating the need to establish an online billing and payment account through their providers.
There are also strict government regulations unique to healthcare, such as HIPAA, that create concerns about patient information. Furthermore, there is a perception in healthcare that online billing and payment systems are expensive to implement and time consuming to manage.
Simple and Secure Online Billing and Payment
The healthcare industry is overcoming these concerns with solutions that simplify billing and payment for both providers and patients. Today’s best solutions can work in conjunction with paper billing and payment processes to streamline collections and increase efficiencies. Moving these processes to an electronic format reduces errors and delays to make workflows simpler for the provider and increase satisfaction for the patient. Online billing and payment solutions are easier to use than ever before and it’s a practice that some patients are coming to expect since they already have the ability to pay most of their other bills online. Also, with security being a top priority in healthcare, most online patient billing and payment applications are compliant with HIPAA and adhere to strict security regulations allowing patient data to be housed.
In addition, the cost of implementing online billing and payment is not as expensive as the healthcare industry perceives. The application service provider technology to enable these capabilities is available with modest IT and capital investments. Initially, healthcare providers must make some necessary workflow changes to facilitate online patient billing and payment; however, these workflow changes may be as simple as creating a method to capture and store necessary patient communication data, such as e-mail addresses. There are long-term workflow changes that are necessary to give consumers visibility into primary insurance payments, contractual discounts, and coordination of benefits on a timely basis.
Value Is More Important Than Ever
The growing influence of consumer-directed health plans require patients to make more decisions regarding where they go for care, which has made the need for efficiency and customer service more important for providers than ever before.
Online billing and payment processes save time and money for the provider while providing patients with billing options that fit their web-centric lifestyles. Giving patients convenient and comfortable billing and payment options may be the best solution for some providers to help them become more patient friendly. Online billing and payment solutions also give providers the ability to connect the registration and billing processes. This allows key information to be shared that can help establish viable payment plans and increase collections later on in the healthcare process.
Are You Ready for Online Billing and Payment?
Even though most online billing and payment solutions are HIPAA compliant, providers must ensure that any solution being considered encompasses both healthcare billing compliance requirements and standards to protect patient information. Because the typical provider has limited IT resources, the ideal online billing and payment solution should minimize these resource requirements for implementation and maintenance.
When providers are evaluating an online billing and payment system, they should note that these solutions can be integrated with their patient statement printing and mailing process. This prevents a second system implementation, minimizes ongoing maintenance costs, and eliminates synchronization issues that would confuse patients. An integrated solution enables visibility of all payment activity across multiple facilities and should eliminate the need for manual keying of payment information through automated payment posting.
Another important factor that providers should consider when selecting an online billing and payment solution is the ability to accept a wide variety of payment types, such as credit cards, check cards, and eCheck/automated clearing house (ACH) payments. The more flexible the payment options are, the more likely a patient will pay.
The movement toward offering online billing and payment solutions is gaining momentum in the healthcare industry. With most of the U.S. population already paying bills online, providers can be confident that patients will utilize their online billing and payment solution. By bringing billing and payment online, providers are offering patients the convenience and account self service they expect.
Emdeon is the leading provider of integrated patient billing and payment solutions that simplify consumer billing and payment processes for hospitals, physicians, and healthcare providers. Through our innovative suite of print and e-commerce solutions, we facilitate provider-patient communications for optimized revenue collection and enhanced patient satisfaction. Contact us today at 877.EMDEON.6 (877.363.3666) or visit us at www.emdeon.com/pbps to find out more.
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