A patient’s financial experience is no longer a back-office concern — it’s a strategic differentiator. From the first bill to final payment, this journey shapes how patients perceive their care, influences provider reputation and directly affects financial performance. As consumer expectations evolve, forward-thinking healthcare organizations are reimagining the payment experience as a core component of patient-centered care.
This was the theme underpinning an executive roundtable sponsored by Zotec Partners at Becker’s Hospital Review 15th Annual Meeting. Here, Joe McMurray, Zotec’s senior vice president for patient experience, moderated a discussion with hospital and health system leaders from across the country.
Three key insights from the session were:
- Retail-style digital payment experiences can simplify and enhance healthcare payments. Leaders discussed how this approach entails myriad supporting factors: cost transparency through upfront pricing; unified digital platforms; 24/7 self-service (e.g., an email with a link taking the patient to a payment screen); ease of payment; personalized communications displaying empathy about the financial burden a bill may represent; proactive follow-up; easy issue resolution; and real-time status tracking.
But the robust approach is well worth it.
“Retail-like experiences can not only increase collections but also speed up payments — and do both of these things while improving patient satisfaction,” Mr. McMurray said. He drew parallels between patient and consumer experiences, and cited behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman’s observation that what consumers remember most about an experience is its intensity and its ending.
“When you’re creating patient experiences, you need to have the end of the experience in mind — and the end of a patient’s experience is typically the financial experience,” Mr. McMurray added.
- Healthcare organizations need a modernized approach to patient financial engagement. Current revenue cycle management trends reflect a shift toward patient-centered, technology-driven approaches. This shift is driven by growing consumerism in healthcare, new models like remote work and self-service environments, and new laws, such as the No Surprises Act.
Despite these trends, the pace of innovation in RCM — like much of healthcare — is slow compared to other industries. One roundtable participant attributed the slow pace of RCM changes to the fact that unlike retail transactions, healthcare interactions are mediated by third-party payers.
“With a third-party payer, the patient is paying a little bit, their insurance is paying a little bit and there are contractual allowances,” the participant said. “It’s a much more confusing arithmetic for the patient or customer, and I don’t think our tools have addressed that confusion.”
Still, there are solutions to these RCM complexities if providers are willing to rethink how they engage with patients, Mr. McMurray said. For example, when care facilities are unable to identify a patient tied to an adjudicated insurance claim, they often send the patient a gross balance bill instead of trying to sort out the issue. This causes many patients to experience shock and frustration.
“An alternative experience would be to reach out and say, ‘We were unable to identify who you were, but we believe there may be a problem with your insurance. Log in and help us solve this issue,'” Mr. McMurray said.
- AI and automation can help providers strike a balance between convenience and personalization. AI-powered tools like Zotec’s ZiGO platform can make RCM workflows more efficient and increase revenue capture, while freeing staff to do higher-value tasks and improving the patient financial experience.
ZiGO facilitates RCM processes by centralizing longitudinal data about individual patients, leveraging historical trends and determining the optimal first outreach or next best action for each patient. These capabilities allow organizations to glean insights into patients’ propensity to respond to billing updates versus statements, and to match patients’ preferences for how they wish to be contacted. Such customizations, coupled with the intuitive payment workflow on ZiGO’s patient portal, improve collections and revenue.
However, before hospitals and health systems can leverage technologies such as ZiGO, they must first overcome multiple barriers to AI adoption. The most significant barriers include budget and cost concerns, privacy and security concerns, and personnel or job security concerns. Further, some patients still prefer to have their healthcare communications, questions or issues addressed by humans.
“You have to surround technology with humans and figure out the best way to coordinate activities, in a way that drives a better patient experience,” Mr. McMurray said.
