Driving Success in Medical Practice Revenue Cycle Management Systems in 2024

As we near the quarter-of-a-century mark in 2024, revenue cycle management systems will be even more critical for medical practices. These digital solutions help providers support digital engagement and streamline the patient journey to increase revenue.

The Importance of Revenue Cycle Management Systems

Streamlining revenue cycle and patient payment processes improves workflow and patient experience, positively impacting the bottom line. An efficient system is important for various reasons, including:

• Patient satisfaction: A medical practice is nothing without satisfied patients. Creating a smooth, stress-free journey from pre-arrival through final payment encourages patients to return to your practice. A seamless financial experience for your patient – from insurance verification to digital payment methods – delivers ease and convenience, giving patients the best experience possible.
• Improved administration automation: Spending less time completing administrative tasks means patients receive more attention. Automated, digital solutions save you time and energy on manual tasks like verifying insurance and creating estimates.
• Improved processes: A digital platform allows you to integrate various processes for increased productivity. Patient data automation and intake, scheduling, pre-visit insurance eligibility verification and billing streamline workflows for you and your patients. 
• Increased patient engagement: By signing in to the management portal, patients can view their confirmed appointments and personal details. Chat options or online answers to frequently asked questions can clarify questions or concerns. Digital solutions that are user-friendly and turnkey help keep lines of communication open and improve patient engagement across the board.

Current Challenges Affecting Medical Practice Revenue 

Some medical practices face challenges that keep them from reaching their full revenue potential — but your practice doesn’t have to be affected. Here are the current challenges related to revenue cycle management.

Low Post-Service Payment Rates

There are various methods through which providers receive payment for services rendered. Some practices require a deposit before conducting services, while others expect payment afterward. Many times, patients leverage their health insurance benefits to cover the cost, assuming their insurance plan covers the specific services.

The assumption here is that the patient’s insurance will cover the entire bill, which leads to payment delays when they find out this is not the case. Patients must understand the payment process, especially if they’re uncertain about who will foot the bill.

Sometimes, patients may question and challenge the outstanding bill because they lack knowledge about who is responsible. By using technology for automatic insurance verification and patient payment estimates, the patient is educated before receiving the bill which helps mitigate any confusion and surprise of receiving a bill they thought was meant to be covered by their insurance.

Knowing they have the option of a payment plan is also reassuring. Paying large amounts in agreed installments can reduce stress and anxiety. Patients are more likely to pay when given this option, instead of assuming they must pay a lump sum.

Administrative Strain

As many industries, including health care experience staffing shortages, it’s imperative to save time and increase efficiency because manual processes burden administrative teams. 

Manual estimates and statement creation, following up on payments via calls and email, answering billing-related queries — all of these increase administrative tasks that require time and strain.

For example, patients who are unaware of their bill and assume insurance will pay are called to follow up on payments. Sometimes, call attempts are unsuccessful and emails go unread. If patients understand their responsibility in the payment process, following up is less time-consuming, easing the administrative burden.

By outsourcing patient collections, providers can capitalize on technology and outsourced billing teams that will manage patent billing for them. 

Insufficient IT Support

Electronic health records (EHRs) help providers organize and store patient data for easy access. Ongoing IT support for providers to use the software effectively is critical; without it, practices often lose time and end up reverting to their previous ways of doing things, even if those procedures are manual and outdated.

Potential Solutions to Combat These Challenges

The good news is that these challenges can be resolved. The right practice and revenue cycle management tools are vital to ensure smooth business operations. 

Digital Payment Technology

Payment estimations alleviate the anticipation of unexpected bills by calculating all costs so patients know what they might pay. This approximate number allows them to make further arrangements to pay off the balance if it’s more than expected. The portal allows patients to engage, make payments and communicate any changes to their arrangement like an extension request or full settlement. 

With an efficient, digital patient payment system, you can offer mobile payment options to simplify the payment process. Many patients are well-versed in using their devices to complete transactions online, so it makes sense to provide the option to pay their medical bills using similar channels. 

Patient Engagement Intelligence

Improve patient engagement and increase revenue by understanding their individual needs, psyche and behavior.

Patients engage on varying levels. Using engagement intelligence tools like machine learning and targeted engagement modeling, you can better understand their propensity to pay based on when and how they want to be contacted. For example, one patient may prefer to be reached in the morning via text message, and another on weekends by phone call.

Similarly, reminders can be sent based on targeted engagement modeling that analyzes patient behavior. Some may require payment reminders while others don’t. Engagement solutions are non-invasive so patients don’t feel bombarded by calls and texts to pay.

Qualified, Knowledgeable Support Staff

Patients want immediate help with complex matters. Live help in a digital setting increases satisfaction as their problems are addressed in real time. Live chat support staff are qualified and experienced in dealing with various issues.

Outsourcing to a Revenue Cycle Vendor

Outsourcing gives you access to technology, intelligence and concierge services without the need to make significant technology investments or employ internal IT support.

Advanced intelligence technology like machine learning, targeted engagement modeling, speech AI and live chat options are significant benefits of outsourcing to a revenue cycle vendor. Technology is never an issue with various automated processes designed to eliminate manual administration.

Outsourcing to Millennia

Millennia offers revenue cycle management solutions to promote higher patient payment rates through effective communication, payment estimations and a self-pay portal that gives patients easy access to their payment information. The portal features tools like saved credit cards, payment history and a detailed expense report to keep track of past payments and easily make future payments. 

Our medical practice and revenue cycle management options fall under these categories.

• Pre-Visit: Streamline pre-visit processes with Millennia Complete.  In the pre-visit stage, Millennia engages patients through real-time insurance eligibility, estimations and digital patient intake forms, reducing the number of cancellations and no-shows. 
• Post-Visit Solutions: Focusing on business revenue and an improved payment experience, Millennia Complete includes engagement tools to bridge the communication gap, including automated text message notifications with appointment and payment confirmations and reminders. This solution offers various mobile payment methods like MobilePay, chat pay, text-to-pay, photo capture payment and QR codes as well as a dedicated payment portal.

Millennia Complete uses a propensity-to-pay approach to automate engagement attempts based on past patient experiences and preferences — significantly increasing the likelihood of successful payments.

Increase Your Patient Revenue in 2024

Determining a plan for tackling common challenges in medical practice management can help your facility continue to grow in 2024 and beyond. With Millennia Complete, your practice can benefit from an all-encompassing patient payment solution built to increase digital engagement, grow revenue and facilitate a better patient journey, from pre-visit to final payment.

To get started, request a consultation today.