A 600+ bed health center with 26 locations across 25 counties in the Southwest changed its patient payment approach from full-service to digital-only (self-service), resulting in decreased patient satisfaction and lower collections.
History
The health center had previously contracted with Meduit for extended business office services, including early-out and self-pay accounts. Health center leadership made the decision to move to a digital approach for accounts at 1 – 90 days and contracted with a digital-only vendor, retaining Meduit to make outbound patient calls for accounts at 90 – 120 days. Health system leaders made the change thinking digital services would be more convenient for their patients and reduce costs.
What Happened
The digital-only vendor sent patient statements via email and text to collect on patient accounts from 1 – 90 days. Patients complained to the health system that the statements were confusing, inaccurate and not timely in their delivery.
In addition, the Meduit team found they were receiving the same volume of unresolved patient accounts at 90 days as they were before the digital-only vendor stepped in, indicating that the digital-only vendor was not reducing the number of unresolved accounts significantly.
The health center’s change in its patient payment approach from full-service to digital-only (self-service), resulted in decreased patient satisfaction and lower collections. When the health system returned to a balance of internally generated text to patient communication and full-service solutions through Meduit, patient complaints decreased and collections have steadily returned to expected recoveries.
Achieving the Right Balance of Self-service and Full-service
Download your copy of our case study to learn more about how health system leadership reengaged Meduit to combine the convenience of digital/self-service with full-service solutions to hits the sweet spot of lowering costs, increasing cash collections and ensuring high patient financial satisfaction:
