Healthcare, in the United States, is expected to be a $5 trillion industry within the next five years. This could be due, in part, to emerging medical technology and the ability for patients to have insurance to afford them. However, a big roadblock is the way in which payments are accepted today. Many customers still pay by check, even though both the customer and patient would prefer not to. IVR Payment Processing could be just what the doctor ordered.
Collecting Payments In Healthcare
53% of healthcare providers said main concern was related to patient collections. This was either due to the patient’s responsibility for payments, how long the payment took to process, and debt due to patient collections. Here’s a few things you should keep in mind when it comes to collecting patient payments.
Payments Take a Long Time
In a study about trends in healthcare payments, healthcare providers noticed 74% of patients were making regular payments. This was likely due to the popularity of high-deductible health plans. However, 70% of providers report that it takes one month or longer to collect from a patient.
Checks Aren’t Popular
One of the findings of the report noted an interesting paradox. 96% of patients said they still pay a portion of their providers using a check. However, only 14% of providers prefer that method of payment. Why is that?
Providers Want Fast Payments
It turns out 84% of providers want payments sent to them immediately. They prefer payments that both adheres to the standards of HIPAA compliance, and directly transfers funds to their account. This is known as an ERA/EFT.
Mobile Payments
64% of consumers are interested in a mobile payment solution to make a healthcare payment. This is great for both the provider and the patient if it has security measures like tokenization.
IVR Payments
A study by Zendesk provided further insight as to why an IVR Payment Solution works best for customers. They would prefer not to speak to a live agent. In fact, 53% of customers think it’s important for them to be able to solve problems themselves. This goes up to 60% for millennial customers. An IVR payment solution allows this.
Start Saving Operations Money And Start Gaining Profit
A 2014 Consumers Union report says that inefficient payment processing and antiquated paper-based billing hurt medical practices. It’s almost like paper checks are an albatross around the neck of the medical industry. It doesn’t have to be.
Compass Pay is a solution that patients want to use, and practices would welcome. This is because IVR Technology is not only PCI Level 1 Compliant, but HIPAA Compliant as well. Compass Pay would reduce the financial burden on a practice, reduce administrative costs, and save billions of dollars for the medical industry.
Compass Payments Suite
Learn more about our Pay By Phone solution, the Compass Payments Suite.