Patient Satisfaction Within the Revenue Cycle

Patient relationship management simply cannot be an afterthought for today's healthcare landscape. Consumers' out-of-pocket expenses have risen significantly in the past few years and are expected to continue growing.

Tech-savvy patients are ready for more convenient healthcare management options.

Moreover, changing reimbursement models have added uncertainty to revenue cycle management, and have made it even more important that facilities collect what they're owed from individuals. Therefore, patient relationship management must be a top priority. That means designing better ways for providers to interact with consumers, from scheduling their very first appointment until their bill is fully paid. Patient-focused revenue cycle management is rapidly becoming the norm.

It All Starts with Scheduling and Registration

Good patient relationship management begins with the patient's first encounter with your healthcare facility, whether that is by phone or through an appointment scheduling hub online. More practices are offering online appointment scheduling, and some larger facilities allow patients to research provider options based on their need, coverage, pricing, and quality scores.

Once an appointment is scheduled with a provider, the next step in patient-focused revenue cycle management is confirming the appointment, reviewing patient financial responsibility, and completion and submission of required patient forms online. Within these forms, patients can include information on their preferred method of contact, whether they want text reminders of appointments, and their preferred method of payment. Prior to the appointment, patients are reminded of their appointment, and of anything they need to bring with them.

Making Clinical Encounters Patient-Focused

When a provider completes his or her clinical assessment of a patient and makes a diagnosis, it's time to discuss possible treatment options with the patient. Today there is no way around discussing costs, including health plan benefits, choices of providers or facilities, and any cost and quality information available.

Patient relationship management within the clinical encounter is more important than ever. Clinicians must be prepared to discuss the best treatment option with the patient based on the patient's medical history, financial constraints, insurance coverage, and personal preferences.

Patient Centered Billing and Payment Options

Patients want to understand their medical bills, and making bills understandable is important to good patient relationship management.

The idea of "simplifying" billing and collections might seem preposterous due to changing reimbursement models, high-deductible health plans, pre-authorization, and the many other factors that affect your revenue cycle management. However, patient-centric billing statements can make a measurable difference.

Payer-centric billing statements can be difficult for patients to understand, and great patient relationship management requires taking the time to make patient statements that are understandable. Combine this with technology that allows patients numerous convenient options for paying bills, and you can increase collections. Self-service payment portals online are particularly well-liked by patients, especially if they allow services like setting up payment plans for expensive services.

The Patient-Centered Health Intelligence Hub

Online patient portals are evolving into health intelligence "hubs" that combine patient information about health plans, providers, and even FSA and HSA balances to help patients understand their financial responsibilities and pay their bills in the way that makes the most sense. For example, a patient-centered health intelligence hub could allow a patient to check his HSA balance and even authorize future payments from it based on services that are scheduled to take place.

An ombudsman or patient advocate can be another part of a health intelligence hub, so patients can ask questions or discuss problems before they can harm the provider-patient relationship.

Conclusion: The Patient-Centered Revenue Cycle Makes Sense

Revenue cycle management can no longer rely on cobbling together disparate payment technologies. Patient responsibility for healthcare costs is going up, and patients are more interested than they used to be in tracking their out-of-pocket healthcare spending. Yes, it adds complexity to an already-complex billing process, but the patient-centered revenue cycle is essential to outstanding patient relationship management.