Health Tech

Why Patients Are Demanding a More Digital Healthcare Payment Process

Patient demand for digital payment communication — both reminders about bills, as well as text messages that enable bill payment — is on the rise, according to a recent report. This is in line with growing consumerism trends in the U.S. — patients want their healthcare payment experience to mimic the convenience and ease they have when they pay for things like travel or retail goods.

With hospital margins remaining low, it’s more important than ever that providers find ways to facilitate faster payments for the care they provide. This alone is challenging, but it’s further complexified by increasing demands from patients that their healthcare payment experience mimic the convenience and ease they have when they pay for things like travel or retail goods.

In line with this consumerism trend, patient demand for digital payment communication — both reminders about bills and text messages enabling bill payment — is on the rise, according to a recent report from healthcare payment technology company Salucro Healthcare Solutions.

For the report, Salucro surveyed 1,348 U.S. healthcare consumers this spring. About 62% of these respondents said patient portals were their favorite method for paying medical bills. This percentage was the same last year, signaling that patient portals have been solidified as patients’ preferred option for medical bill payment — in addition to being the gateway to a provider’s brand and reputation.

Patients want online portals to enable them to seamlessly access their medical information, pay their bill and receive personalized notifications, the report pointed out. Because of this, the report recommended that providers continually develop and maintain their online portal to ensure it is secure and easy to use. 

The report also revealed that patients are becoming increasingly open to digital communication channels for notifications about billing and payment. Email is still the most popular method that patients choose, but text messaging has seen significant growth as a preferred payment reminder option.

Patients’ interest in receiving text message notifications about their medical bills rose by more than 30% this year from 2022. Additionally, 51% of this year’s survey respondents said that a text message reminder would prompt them to pay their bill faster. A big reason for this is that when a patient receives a text message about their medical bill, they often read it as soon as it’s delivered — they don’t see it when they finally get around to checking their mail or inbox.

This could be indicative of a shift towards more immediacy and mobile-friendliness in healthcare payment communication. Some health systems are even starting to give their patients text-to-pay options, which allow them to pay their bill via a secure link sent through a text message.

Not all providers have the financial means or patient demand to justify the introduction of text-to-pay options, but larger organizations should consider implementing the payment method, the report suggested. Organizations that accommodate diverse patient preferences through a wide range of payment options often have higher patient satisfaction scores, according to the report.

Text-to-pay was the preferred payment method for nearly 10% of patients in 2023, the report said. This method is especially attractive to younger patients in the Millennial and Gen Z generations. 

If a health system is able, it would be wise to meet these patients’ demands for immediacy and convenience by rolling out this option, said Christopher Johnson, Atrium Health’s vice president of revenue cycle management, last month at the HIMSS conference in Chicago. Delivering on patients’ digital expectations can often boost providers’ patient loyalty and retention scores, he pointed out.

“You can have a phenomenal clinical experience, but we as healthcare providers can lose the game if we don’t get your patient financial experience right,” Johnson explained.

Atrium initiated a text-to-pay feature last year. This feature sends patients a text when their bill is ready and shares a link that allows them to make their payment directly — without having to log into any sort of portal. Since June, $6 million dollars have been collected from this mobile pay program, and 40,000 paper statements have been eliminated, Johnson said. The program currently has a 15% patient response rate.

Photo credit: mixetto, Getty Images

Shares0
Shares0