Patient care is constantly changing. From the introduction of health insurance to today’s digital tools focused on an optimized patient journey, we’ve come a long way. As technology evolves, healthcare providers must stay on top of the latest trends. Understanding changes in the healthcare patient experience can allow your operation to keep on the cutting edge. You’ll deliver better solutions that improve productivity, satisfaction and patient collections.

Patient Engagement Technology Trends

2024 marks a shift into expanding healthcare technology. As advances in artificial intelligence (AI) continue, we see a push to incorporate personalized technology into patient care. Capitalizing on these trends can make your facility more streamlined, convenient and profitable. Take a look at emerging tech trends to see how you can shift your healthcare operation into the future.

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI has opened new doors in the healthcare industry from patient care to administration and operations such as revenue cycle management tools. Looking into 2024 and beyond, healthcare providers can expect to increasingly rely on AI-enabled software for support, scheduling, payment and more. The introduction of AI-driven chatbots to handle patient inquiries, healthcare providers are able to delivery 24/7 support.

Generative AI takes personalized patient engagement to the next level. Innovations like Speech AI analyze your communications with patients, generating report cards that guide your team through patient interactions and boosting quality assurance. Additionally, tools like Engagement Intelligence use machine learning to track payment trends and behaviors. For example, it can send reminders, getting patients to complete their payments more quickly while conserving staff resources.

2. Seamless Intake

Personalized care continues to gain traction with healthcare operations. Advances in data analytics and technology are opening new doors for patient care. Innovations like digital patient intake technology make pre-visit processes easier for patients, letting them check in on their own devices at their own pace beforehand. With this technology, patients can get insurance approval, check in, access important forms and give electronic consent before they arrive at the healthcare facility.

3. Improved Insurance Verification

Juggling insurance eligibility is a complex task for patients and healthcare providers. Navigating covered treatment options and in-network facilities is often time-consuming and confusing. New tools provide automated insurance eligibility, taking the stress off your team and patients. Automated insurance eligibility takes patient insurance information and ensures they’re eligible for treatment with your facility. They can also deliver estimates, reducing pricing confusion for patients. Expect to see more providers using auto-eligibility insurance tech to improve patient engagement and financial confidence.

4. Payment Support

Technology has opened new doors with asynchronous communication and digital payment options. Patients can easily discuss payment questions or options with live chat features. These chats give patients payment support when they need it, making navigating healthcare payments easy and convenient. They can pay using a secure portal, text-to-pay, mobile pay or even QR codes. Providing more ways to pay means you’re more likely to receive timely payments.

How Millennia Can Help With Pain Points for Healthcare Providers

Healthcare providers face many challenges when working to maximize revenue and care. While these challenges can reduce productivity, the right tools can elevate your organization. Break down your organization’s current pain points — understanding these challenges will help you identify areas where you need additional support. Let’s look at some healthcare pain points and how patient-centric payment technology and services can help you improve patient engagement to overcome them.

1. Reimbursement

Healthcare providers often need help navigating complex reimbursement systems. Delayed payments, denials and underpayments from insurance companies or government payers can create cashflow issues and financial resource strain. Patient confusion, lack of reminders and denials will all slow down your reimbursement, leaving you without funding for essential services. Finding a way to get reimbursed on time can drain administrative resources and waste staff time on manual work.

Deploying the right technology can streamline intake forms, billing processes and insurance verification, reducing late payments and denials. Additionally, your practice can boost patient payment recovery through secure self-payment software, text-to-pay and mobile pay options and  real-time support from patient support specialists. Offering patient digital engagement options and using technology strategically throughout your operations can result in getting payments faster for better cash flow, which keeps your revenue cycle moving smoothly.

2. Revenue Cycle Management

Healthcare chief financial officers (CFOs) have been faced with an evolving revenue cycle management (RCM) environment. With patients taking on more responsibility for the bill, keeping RCM efficient and balanced can be challenging. When patient revenue goes uncollected, or if patients struggle to pay or forget their payments, it can lead to delayed or reduced revenue, impacting your organization’s financial health.

Whether you have internal teams and resources or choose to outsource your RCM operations, maximizing patient revenue requires seamless billing and payment processes, multiple payment options right at patients’ fingertips and communications that meet patient preferences (such as live chat and toll-free support, as well as text notifications and e-statements). The right healthcare revenue tools can help successfully engage with patients so you can cut costs, reduce administrative burden  and maximize revenue – and focus on delivering quality patient care.

3. Increasing Costs

Healthcare costs continue to rise, so providers need to find a way to manage these costs while maintaining care quality and financial health. Outsourcing administrative tasks can lower your costs, reduce staffing challenges and improve patient engagement. 

Outsourcing to expert vendors can reduce RCM operating expenses associated with staffing and technology development and support. Instead of supporting everything in-house, you let experts with the resources already in place. Trusted vendors can handle patient payment tasks through technology and services that decrease manual labor, missed payments and denials, reducing overall costs. You’ll keep your operation efficient and cost-effective, boosting patient and staff satisfaction.

4. Technology Integration

Healthcare providers often struggle with integrating and optimizing electronic health record (EHR) systems, telehealth platforms and other tools. Poorly integrated systems can create inefficiencies, impacting workflow, productivity and morale.

While EHRs are offering more patient payment functionality, these platforms still come up short – patients don’t have as many payment options, portals require logins and credentials, and the EHR doesn’t provide services to provide support to patients who have billing questions. Luckily there are solutions, such as the Millennia Patient Payment Solution, that offers a platform that works with your EHR to create a more patient-centric billing solution. As a healthcare provider, you benefit from customizable control and an intuitive interface, while patients enjoy an easy, interactive experience.

5. Patient Experience

Improving the patient experience is an essential part of healthcare. Retaining patients means providing high-quality clinical care as well as making their pre- and post-visit experience as easy as possible. When it comes to patient revenue, supplying accurate estimates, offering multiple payment options, providing easy access to their billing data and history and offering live support when they have questions will allow you to deliver an unmatched patient experience. Patient experience is directly tied to financial results. Patients who receive top-notch care without any administrative hassles will come back to your practice and recommend you to their friends and family. 

Reduce Your Patient Engagement Challenges and Boost Revenue With Millennia

Streamline your revenue cycle, boost your bottom line and enhance patient satisfaction with healthcare solutions from Millennia. From improving patient engagement to maximizing payment recovery, Millennia offers innovative, patient-centric tools tailored to your organization’s unique needs. Our comprehensive solutions can change how your healthcare organization handles challenges, patients and administration. Contact us now to request a consultation — explore how we can give you the tools to increase revenue and patient satisfaction together!