For Community Hospitals, Curing Payment Confusion Requires Patient Friendly Solutions

Four out of 10 people have delayed care for themselves or a family member due to cost concerns, yet a recent HFMA survey found most healthcare organizations believe they do a good job of explaining patient financial responsibility. It’s a sign of the disconnect in the patient financial care process—and it indicates a need to move beyond traditional approaches to financial education.

For community hospitals, which continue to face a tough financial outlook in 2024, strengthening patient financial education with the help of digital payment tools could be key to consumer engagement and cash recovery.

Why digital financial care matters 

Even before the year began, rating agency experts predicted not-for-profit hospitals would continue to struggle with expenses, especially around labor and operational costs. While some hospitals were expected to show signs of financial recovery by the end of 2024, Fitch Ratings also noted it expected a number of healthcare organizations to “lag significantly behind any recovery.” After all, nearly one out of four acute not-for-profit providers received a negative outlook in 2023 — the highest proportion of negative outlooks in a decade.

Now, with the impact of the recent cyberattacks continuing to disrupt cash flow, community not-for-profit hospitals need to ensure they collect money owed for services delivered as quickly as possible. Just as important, they must work to retain patients by providing a positive patient financial experience.

The right digital payment approach supports patient financial care by giving patients access to the information they need to determine the question that matters most to them: “How much will I pay out of pocket?” For instance, when a patient receives a text notification about their balance, a link should take the patient to a payment page that includes information regarding:

• What service was performed, where it was performed (location) and when it took place
• The amount insurance is expected to pay—and whether insurance has paid its portion
• How the patient’s out-of-pocket balance was calculated

In our experience, when text-to-payment solutions are paired with clear and concise financial communications, 43% of patients who click to view their bill end up paying. The ease of understanding the bill while also keeping a patient card on file so they can pay quickly is imperative for optimizing results.   

Crafting the right digital communications approach

When HFMA asked healthcare finance leaders to rate their top patient financial strengths, only one out of five pointed to the availability of convenient payment options. But in a resource-constrained environment, seamless, convenient payment options that empower patients to understand their healthcare costs and options for payment are vital to protecting consumer relationships. They are also integral to protecting a community hospital’s financial position. 

Here are three things to consider in combining digital payment with a robust approach to patient financial communications:

• Take a behavioral science-based approach to digital communications. The right use of text-based payment messages — grounded in behavioral science — delivers rapid results. In fact, some providers record payments within two minutes of going live with a text-to payment solution. Look for a partner that uses these principles to determine how to communicate with patients, how often, and through which mediums. 
• Include a link to live assistance on the payment page. There will be times when even the most careful communications strategy cannot answer all of a patient’s questions. That’s why it’s important to give patients a clear avenue for connecting with live assistance, whether that’s a live call with someone from the patient financial services department or a live or automated chat. Doing so gives community hospitals a better basis for overcoming the patient financial knowledge gap that so often leaves consumers feeling frustrated and confused. As one revenue cycle leader told HFMA, “The average patient has no idea how healthcare works. None.”
• Make sure the payment tool you choose is easy to execute — for your team and your patients. The value of digital access to billing information and payment becomes lost when a solution is cumbersome to use or navigate if it has not been designed for mobile phones. Thus, the best solutions put power in patients’ hands literally to pay their bill with a single touch, self-manage their accounts, and self-enroll in flexible payment options. This creates a feeling of control over what could otherwise be a vulnerable experience. Currently, 70% of payments made via one text-to-payment provider are completed with a mobile device.

Building patient financial trust and loyalty

Community hospitals can’t afford to leave the patient financial experience to chance. By leaning into digital solutions that simplify a currently complex process to not only facilitate faster payment, but also educate patients on what they owe and how to fulfill their financial obligations for care, hospitals can build connections that deepen loyalty and trust.

Photo: KLH49, Getty Images

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