Patient Collections Growing Concern for Rev Cycle Leaders

Patient collections has surpassed denials management as the biggest concern for revenue cycle leaders, a new report found.

Should you be taking a closer look at your back-end operations? While denials management is a longstanding issue for an organization’s revenue cycle, a recent report found that timely patient collections are a growing concern.

In the report, authored by Salucro Healthcare Solutions, 48% of revenue cycle leaders said patient collections are the biggest issue they’re facing, surpassing familiar issues like denials management and hiring/staff training.

Patients have begun covering a larger portion of their care in recent years, and difficulties with understanding benefits, lack of price transparency from providers, and complex billing processes make for a frustrating experience.

Some organizations, like Allegheny Health Network, turned to technology for a solution that would benefit the organization and help patients understand their healthcare costs. After implementing a financial engagement platform, patients now have access to a patient portal where they can set up payment plans and access additional self-service tools.

“It was clear to us that the patient billing process is broken, and that providers and payers alone can’t solve the systemic challenges,” James Rohrbaugh, then chief financial officer and treasurer for AHN, previously told HealthLeaders.

Organizations can also ease the frustration of the patient financial experience by employing cash sharing applications like Zelle and Venmo. In a previous article, HealthLeaders reported on how providers are gradually embracing the apps due to their accessibility and ease of use.