As consumers, we crave convenience and simplicity, and across an array of industries, technology has made it increasingly easy to search for and purchase products and services. From getting a pizza delivered to buying a car online, the process often involves entering a few pieces of information, hitting send, and waiting for a confirmation email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Changing Landscape<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Unsurprisingly, people want this same level of convenience and simplicity<\/strong><\/a> when they’re seeking care. This change in consumer demand for convenience is further compounded by fundamental shifts in the healthcare ecosystem. Among these shifts are cost-sharing models that have increased patient out-of-pocket expenses, healthcare systems that are increasingly shifting toward delivering value-based care, and innovations in digital health solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While patients want to play an active role in managing their well-being, that is often easier said than done in a system that uses a combination of manual processes and non-integrated point solutions to try and meet consumer demand. Disparate and burdensome methods of managing patient engagement often lead to inefficiencies within provider organizations, resulting in missed appointments, increased registration and eligibility-based denials, incomplete payments, higher collections and write-offs, and low patient satisfaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Healthcare consumers today feel like they’re fighting an uphill battle. According to Change Healthcare’s 2020 Harris Poll Consumer Experience Index<\/strong><\/a>, 67% of respondents agreed that it \u201cfeels like every step of the healthcare process is a chore.\u201d A similar percentage, 62%, agreed that \u201cthe healthcare system feels like it is set up to be confusing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, if consumers don\u2019t receive the level of convenience and digitization they want from their current provider, they\u2019re more than willing to seek it out elsewhere. In a recent Black Book survey<\/strong><\/a>, 80% of respondents indicated they would be willing to change providers for more convenience even if they were receiving good care from their current provider. An even higher percentage of patients, 90%, do not think they have to continue seeing a provider if that provider does not \u201cdeliver an overall satisfactory digital experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Improving the patient experience<\/strong><\/a> starts with humanizing revenue cycle management (RCM) \u2014the administrative process that takes the patient from registration and appointment scheduling to the final payment of a balance. Simply making administrative touchpoints self-service and easy to understand throughout the patient\u2019s financial journey can help humanize revenue cycle management for providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How is that possible? By thinking about the patients\u2019 side of the administrative process and leveraging innovative technologies like artificial intelligence, robotic process automation (RPA), natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning. The more that providers\u2019 staffs are able to automate repetitive tasks, the more time they’re able to spend helping provide a seamless patient engagement journey that is focused on a patient\u2019s specific needs. In other words, reducing human intervention throughout our technologies allows providers to infuse more human interaction with each patient as they navigate their healthcare journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Change Healthcare\u2019s 2020 Harris Poll Consumer Experience Index, what patients really want is a retail-like shopping experience with modern, streamlined communication, as the vast majority (81%) agreed that \u201cshopping for healthcare should be as easy as shopping for other common services\u201d via a streamlined access point online. A clear majority (71%) also said they want their health insurance and healthcare providers (68%) to communicate with them using more-modern platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The entire clinical-care journey is focused on the specific needs of the patient rather than the provider, so why shouldn\u2019t the patient\u2019s financial journey be handled the exact same way? From a patient-satisfaction perspective, patients are not separating their clinical journey from their financial journey, so providers should start viewing it the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It should be easy to schedule an appointment and modify that appointment if needed. Patients should have to (securely) provide their personal and insurance information only once (digitally and in advance), then be squared away when they show up for their appointment with their provider. In addition, because of COVID-19 and the heightened awareness surrounding personal interaction, it\u2019s important to provide patients with no-contact check-in and waiting room options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By humanizing RCM, providers can achieve a cohesive end-to-end journey<\/strong><\/a> that allows patients to quickly and easily get the care they need complete with clear communication, price transparency , and a provider who truly takes the time to understand their unique situations. By putting the patient back at the center of their care journey, providers can improve care outcomes while also driving maximized business outcomes for their organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\nConsumer Dissatisfaction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A Patient-Centric Approach<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Simplified Scheduling and Payment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n