Revenue Cycle Technology Key to Patient Collections, Experience

August 29, 2022 - Revenue cycle technology is helping Hackensack Meridian Health become a high-performing healthcare organization, especially when it comes to patient collections and financial experience.

“We do not want manual processes in the revenue cycle if we can use technology at any point,” explains Anne Goodwill Pritchett, MPA, FHFMA, executive vice president of revenue operations for Hackensack Meridian Health. “We want that because it ensures a high level of performance when you don’t have manual interventions. Technology refines our processes and makes them better.”

Tapping technology to improve the revenue cycle is still a work in progress for most hospitals though. In 2021, a survey conducted by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) for revenue cycle vendor AKASA found that about a third of hospitals and health systems do not use revenue cycle automation. Lack of automation and technology is especially true for patient collections. A separate survey shows that 90 percent of healthcare providers still use paper and manual processes for patient collections, which has led to slower and less successful patient financial responsibility collection.

Inefficient and complex processes, however, can impact the entire patient experience, even if patients had an excellent clinical encounter.

“Patient experience is everything, but experience isn’t just one piece,” Pritchett says. “A patient’s experience is from the time they hit our door until they leave and get a bill. If they get a bill and they don’t know why, they may forget about all the good things they experienced while in our facility.”

Hackensack Meridian Health has tapped into revenue cycle technology from Nordis Technologies to help ensure a quality experience through the billing and patient collections process.

“Our primary objective is to ensure our patients receive patient-friendly statements, which include reasons for the bill they are receiving from us and that they are being asked to pay,” explains Pritchett. “So, if we are sending them a bill because it is their liability as defined by their insurance company—whether it is their deductible, coinsurance, or copayment—we want the statement to reflect that. Or are we sending a bill because their benefits have been exhausted or the service is not covered under their contract with their insurance company? That should be reflected on the bill, too.”

Not only should patient statements clarify what is the patient’s financial responsibility and why, but they should also give patients instructions on how to pay. Hackensack Meridian Health has partnered with TD Bank to implement an online payment tool.

“Patients can go online and pay their bills 365 days a year, 24 hours a day because the technology does not require a person,” Pritchett says. “But we do use their IVR [interactive voice response] system, too. So, patients can always call and speak to a customer service person so they can pay their bills. Both of these options are identified on the statements we send.”

With easier-to-understand statements and convenient ways to pay, Hackensack Meridian Health has what it considers a “fully integrated patient billing and payments solution” through Nordis and TD Bank. With the solution, the health system has converted over 180,000 payments from paper and transformed what were once manual methods of payment into electronic and self-service online payments. What’s more, the process is more personalized despite the extensive use of technology.

“Our cloud-based system from TD Bank and Nordis gives us new capabilities and flexibility to cater to each patient’s preferences, increasing satisfaction and financial engagement,” Pritchett says in a statement.

Improvements have upped post-payment cash collections and reduced phone calls to the health system’s customer service desk, Pritchett also told RevCycleIntelligence.

But the health system isn’t done with revenue cycle transformation through technology. Pritchett explains that they are working on improving patient statements for the system’s physician division. Currently, the health system is working on aligning and standardizing certain patient billing and collection processes to give ambulatory patients the same experience.

Hackensack Meridian Health is also looking into other online payment options for patients, including Venmo.

“We are looking at Venmo on the professional side because patient out-of-pocket expenses for physician bills are usually much smaller than an out-of-pocket expense on the hospital side,” Pritchett states. “We also intend to create short-term payment plans through Epic, so six months for less for bills under $500.”

Revenue cycle and EHR technology have proven to boost patient collections and the patient’s financial experience. Patient-friendly statements and online methods for patient payment are just some examples of how technology is customizing the financial experience for patients and boosting collection rates for providers.

Providers like Hackensack Meridian Health have also implemented automated workflows in financial clearance to verify patient insurance and benefits. This also helps the health system give patients a price estimate range for elective care.

“We use technology to improve our processes,” Pritchett says. “Over time, it will reduce FTEs [full-time equivalents] by not having people do things manually, but it will also streamline workflows and allow our staff to focus on providing a better experience.”