Three Quick Ways to Use Analytics to Improve Patient Financial Experience

Analytics can seem like an overwhelming task when it comes to creating intelligent patient payment communications. However, odds are good that you already have most of the data you need to identify potential opportunities and existing wins, which have already been captured within your Health Information System (HIS). By finding the right revenue cycle management partner, you can unlock these insights to accelerate your financial performance. Here are three examples to take your revenue cycle to the next level with analytics:

Leverage predictive analytics.Many industries outside of healthcare are using predictive models to predict consumer behavior. Why not take similar methodology and apply it to the patient financial experience? There are many score providers to choose from, and we recommend leveraging a demographic model instead of a credit scoring model, which can create a negative patient experience. For example, credit scoring leaves a soft hit on a consumer’s credit report that may result in upset patient phone calls. Additionally, credit scoring models do not always provide accurate data (if they return data at all) on varying consumers, such as those just entering the workforce, or others who may live in the financial shadows.
Measure results.HIS platforms come with standard reports that can leave critical gaps in your ability to fully understand what is happening in your revenue cycle. Some gaps include not being able to reconcile cash postings with what shows up on your bank statement and not having visibility into the aging buckets of your true self pay or balance after insurance populations.

Another tip is to look beyond canned reports — feed your data into a visual engine that helps close the gaps left behind to maximize the investment you’ve made in your technology. RevSpring’s visual insight dashboards, for example, can help you understand if your communications are effective, how the payments are flowing into your system, and how to leverage these insights to get more payments, faster, while maintaining a strong patient experience.

Measure all communication design.Is your statement a standard PDF that is exported out of the HIS platform you use? How do you know if patients understand it, outside of anecdotal information from your call center staff? Leveraging online heat mapping or using online patient focus groups is a fast and measurable way to make sure the key information contained in your patient statements is easy to find and understand.

The right partner can help you unlock patient experience insights. Since 2012, RevSpring has been pioneering patient-centered communication design and analytics and can provide the much-needed intelligence into your patient financial experience and data.

To learn more about how analytics can take your patient communication and payment programs to the next level, view our webinar here.