How to Ease Patient Payment Anxiety
Difficulty paying healthcare bills has adverse effects on both patients and providers. Not only do unpaid bills delay the hospital’s revenue collection, but out-of-pocket costs and patient payment anxiety can dissuade patients from seeing a doctor entirely. Even in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic, up to 33% of Americans reported that either they or a family member had delayed treatment for a medical condition because of costs (that’s the highest this percentage has been in at least the last 20 years). In order to reduce patient payment anxiety, a healthcare system must understand the patient’s struggle and adapt their services accordingly. Ensuring financial communications offer a clear pathway to a variety of payment options can reduce patient confusion and speed up the payment process. Although taking a consumer-first approach to service is typically a retail strategy, more and more healthcare providers are considering this method in an attempt to ease the process for patients, a