Health

At MainStreet, many patients pay via text message before a provider can post a bill.


MainStreet Family Care serves patients primarily in rural areas throughout Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina. For many of these patients, MainStreet is their only local care option.

PROBLEM

In fact, for many patients, MainStreet’s urgent care providers fill gaps in primary care, such as assisting with the management of chronic conditions, to help people not sick. Without these centers, patients would have to travel to see specialists – often long distances.

But funding is needed to provide these services, says Drew Smith, director, revenue cycles, at MainStreet Family Care.

“That means we depend on people paying for their care out of their own pocket,” he notes. “We also depend on patients paying their bills on time to reduce collection costs. Paper reports cost $6 per report, not only because of paperwork and postage, but also due to the manual labor required to submit the physical inspection and the need for a lockbox.

“And, because the communities we serve are so tight-knit, we need to avoid submitting accounts to collections as much as possible so that we can maintain a sense of trust among our facility. and our residents,” he added.

MainStreet wants to find new ways to communicate patient financial responsibility and meet individuals where they live to better understand their bills and payment options. The faster the service organization can capture that revenue, the quicker and easier it will be to open a new clinic in a high-demand area, helping to promote better health.

PROPOSE

“By moving to message-based payments, we can more effectively reach patients through the device they use most: their phone,” Smith said. “A Pew Research Center survey found that 97% of American adults own a cell phone. Even in rural areas, 80% of residents use smartphones, compared with 71% before the pandemic – and these numbers continue to grow.

“I recommend waiting a week for consumers to interact with SMS-based communications before submitting a print report. This reduces the cost of paper reports and manual labor and allows employees to employees spend time on higher value-added work.”

Drew Smith, MainStreet Family Care

He continues: “It is also much easier to get a correct phone number than a completely correct address, which saves time and administrative costs, such as the cost of handling bounces. again”. “We believe we can communicate faster and easier with patients about their financial responsibility for care using a preferred communication tool.”

Equally important, he added, is the ability to speed up payments with SMS-based patient billing technology.

“ONE AccessOne’s recent survey found that 40% of consumers rank safe text among their top two preferred choices for financial communication with patients,” he said. medical bills in six days or less when written is provided as a payment option. We believe we can increase convenience and reduce days in accounts receivable by leveraging an SMS-based approach.”

MEET CHALLENGES ONLY

MainStreet Family Care rolled out a mobile payment option from AccessOne in 2019. Patients will receive a message as soon as their account is ready for viewing. MainStreet is charged only for text-based communications successfully delivered by its mobile payment provider. If MainStreet doesn’t have a good cell phone number for the patient, it won’t be charged for the effort.

Smith explains: “The system integrates with our patient portal so that the most accurate out-of-pocket amounts are delivered to the patient. “This takes into account what we expect insurance to pay. Additionally, texts are branded with our organization’s look and feel so patients know the communication they receive is from the facility. our office.

“There is some skepticism around how patients in our rural communities will react when they receive text messages asking for payment,” he notes. “We’ve worked to remove the element of surprise by educating our team on why message-based payments are important, how it works, and what to expect. in this group then act as ambassadors for our system, helping residents feel more comfortable with our messaging- payment feature.”

MainStreet has scripted employees to keep the message clear and sharp. During the check-in process, staff double-check that smartphone notifications are sent to the patient’s preferred phone number to help the patient feel more comfortable with this method.

“We also chose to wait five days before a paper statement is sent to the patient’s home to give the written notice a chance to work, with the goal of reducing our statement costs,” Smith said. “.

RESULT

Today at MainStreet, almost 15% of patient payments are paid via mobile payment systems and 95% of accounts paid via secure message are paid within 14 days.

Even better: More than 80% of that amount is paid before the paper report is even printed. This has reduced the volume of paper reports by 11%. It has also reduced manual work for the patient account pool to five hours per week, or 260 hours per year.

“Mobile payments have also turned our call center into a better performing channel,” Smith reports. “When patients have questions about the information they receive via text message, they can call us using the phone number shown on the checkout screen.

“Most patients who call us pay by phone or update their insurance information with us so we can adjust their out-of-pocket estimates,” he continued. “This has increased efficiency while creating a better financial experience for patients.”

TIPS FOR OTHER PEOPLE

“It is important to inform patients that a change like this is coming, whether through pre- and post-care communication, posters or flyers in the waiting room, or texting,” Smith advises. on your website”.

He continued: “This removes the element of surprise from SMS-based communications about payments. “It also increases the likelihood that individuals will open documents and make payments.”

It is also important to create scripts for employees to use when introducing a new means of payment, he added. This helps employees feel more comfortable starting a conversation, he says, while keeping the message clear and sharp.

“We have also gained a lot of value from giving digital media time to breathe,” he notes. “I recommend waiting a week for consumers to interact with SMS-based communications before submitting a print report. This reduces the cost of paper reports and manual labor and allows employees to employees spend time on higher value-added work.”

Follow Bill’s HIT coverage on LinkedIn: Bill Siwicki
Email the writer: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.

news7g

News7g: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button