Financial Engagement Should Make Patients Feel “They Know Me”

RevSpring dedicates a blog post each month to explore what matters most in healthcare engagement and payments. Last month we focused on Engagement Everywhere. Here we explore “Know Me,” which is about the importance of understanding and respecting how patients prefer to engage and pay their healthcare bills.

In our personal relationships, we cultivate closeness by demonstrating we really know others. We strengthen our relationships over time by showing up, being consistent, and remembering what matters. Knowing what matters to patients is important too.

Rick Evans, Senior VP of Patient Services and Chief Experience Officer of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, a RevSpring customer, recently described in Becker’s Hospital Review how clinical teams are responding to the extra challenges brought on by COVID, including developing “scripts to help set expectations and help patients ‘know the person’ behind the gown and mask. They are as dedicated as ever to caring for patients and to providing an experience that is compassionate, empathetic and respectful.”

How you make patients feel is no different in healthcare financial engagement—or at least it shouldn’t be.

Just like in clinical care, revenue cycle management team members shouldn’t have to repeatedly ask questions about patients’ needs, means and preferences. They should already know the answers. Demonstrating that you know your patients by providing a financial communication experience they prefer is a “Know Me” approach that can yield many benefits:

Narrows options and simplifies communications
Makes the payment pathway clear and appropriate
Eliminates waste and unnecessary cost
Drives better engagement
Leads to consistency everywhere

Using what we know about patients to tailor their engagement and payment options requires analytics to generate real-time intelligence. “Know Me” intelligence enables providers to understand each patient’s needs at every touchpoint: what they can afford to pay, and through which channels they prefer to communicate and make payments.

That begins with a central profile that provides a unified view of each patient. Without this, your patient communications and financial interactions will be disconnected, inconsistent, confusing, and even frustrating. Over time, you could risk losing patients altogether.

Here’s an illustration of the difference between a “Know Me” engagement, and static communications.

Learn more about the power of analytics and Know Me intelligence in our Analytics White Paper: Smart Data Analytics Drives Successful Revenue Management.