Chris Morris, senior vice president and CFO for CareCredit at Synchrony, spoke to Becker's Hospital Review about the top financial issues patients face and how providers can surpass patients' high expectations when it comes to financial experiences.
Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What are the top financial issues patients face today?
Chris Morris: Patients' costs are rising, and in many cases it's becoming a barrier to their care. They may delay care or not move forward with their recommended treatment due to their inability to pay. Patients are delaying care or taking less than the recommended treatment due to cost. In fact, in a recent CareCredit cardholder survey, 42 percent said without CareCredit, they wouldn't have been able to move forward with treatment.1
There's also often a lack of transparency around cost. It can be equally as hard for providers to estimate cost as it is for patients to understand it. This is a real gap and it's frustrating for both parties. Without knowing the true cost, providers may not be able to provide accurate cost estimations. And as patients increasingly research treatment options online to better understand what they can afford, they can run into dead ends. It seems as though they need to schedule a consultation in order to understand their full cost of care.
No one has time for that. Technology is helping, and some tools are improving access to online cost information. But the patient financial experience in healthcare is not the same as other financial experiences people encounter. Not knowing what things are going to cost is very uncomfortable. That causes stress. And if patients receive a surprise bill, that's going to influence their feelings about their entire experience even if the clinical care was excellent.
Q: How has on-demand culture affected patients' financial expectations?
CM: Our on-demand culture is shaping the healthcare industry. A new positive trend to come out of this change is that patients are taking a more active role in their healthcare. They are healthcare consumers with new obligations and payment expectations. They expect their financial experience to be as convenient and functional as it is when they pay other bills like utilities and other expenses. The more payment options providers can provide patients, the more likely patients will be able to find care that fits their specific needs.
Q: How can providers better address the patient financial experience?
CM: When it comes to price transparency, some providers are very protective of sharing this information because traditionally, it's private. They may be anxious about sharing the cost they negotiate with payers and they may worry about their competition. Other providers are embracing this shift and realize that cost transparency is becoming more of a necessity that gives them a competitive advantage. As more patients ask for it and as healthcare regulations evolve, transparency will become standard.
Ideally, after patients have their first consultation with the doctor and they've created a treatment plan, imagine if providers could input the codes that will be billed and submit them to the patient's insurance company. As technology continues to evolve, providers can then quickly provide a cost estimation based on the person's actual insurance coverage and their outstanding deductible.
Q: Healthcare consumerism is a hot topic. What are we not talking about when it comes to healthcare consumerism? What have we been missing?
CM: Everything that we've discussed comes back to healthcare consumerism. It's a hot topic, because it represents evolving patient expectations. These expectations are a direct result of patients who suddenly have more financial responsibility for their healthcare than in the past and expect to have the tools and resources to manage their healthcare expenses the way they do their other expenses. It's a vital shift in how providers and patients relate to the healthcare industry. However, embracing consumerism doesn't have to mean transforming your practice into a retail-like environment overnight. There are small steps providers can take, such as providing more payment options, or texting and emailing appointment reminders, that can go a long way to meeting patient expectations. At the end of the day, it's about providing flexibility and options.
1 CareCredit, Cardholder Engagement Study Q2 2018