Show Patients You Care by Putting Convenient Ways to Pay in Their Hands

Patients crave convenience. And almost nothing is more convenient than paying a bill when and where they choose. Providing a self-service payment option delivers multiple benefits for providers too.

So where do you start?

Consider IVR, which enables a patient to take billing into their own hands with a simple phone call. Empowering patients to call and make an automated payment (or check a balance) is the definition of easy.

The nearly ubiquitous nature of mobile phone use significantly improves the likelihood of self-serve payments too. Digital payment options, including IVR, are proven to empower patients to pay up to 6.5 days faster.

Providers also win when IVR is in play. Staffing a call center is an expensive undertaking, particularly in today’s challenging hiring environment. Staffing strain is reduced when some call center responsibilities can be automated with an IVR solution. We’ve seen clients offload 20-30% of their call center volume, allowing CSRs to focus efforts on other priorities.

Another benefit for providers: reduced statement printing and postage costs. And with patients in control, writing off bad debt or sending patient debt to collections becomes less common.

For patients, IVR offers a greater level of payment control with 75% of inbound calls resulting in a payment. Due to automation, IVR is available around the clock. This means a patient can make a payment over the phone at the exact time that is right for them, with no worries about business hours or waiting on hold for a representative.

Offering an easy-to-navigate IVR solution is crucial to maximizing payments, especially when you are confident that the solution is secure, HIPAA compliant and out of PCI scope. This also minimizes your regulatory burden and gives you peace of mind throughout the patient financial journey.

Adding convenient channels can do more than just increase payments. Patients appreciate tools that increase convenience for them, which can drive up metrics like patient satisfaction and loyalty.

When you can increase satisfaction while controlling costs and providing patients with more immediate engagement options, the decision to add a self-service solution like IVR is an easy one. To further strengthen patient satisfaction, consider making IVR part of a holistic patient engagement approach that begins well before a patient statement is ever sent. To learn more, click here.