Mr. Nalle recommends that hospitals begin by measuring how patients engage with financial communications. This includes examining such metrics as percentage of first bills that get paid, open rates for electronic bills, text message click-through rates and self-service payment plan enrollment.
Collecting patient satisfaction metrics and analyzing net collections are also helpful strategies, he said.
“By measuring and establishing a baseline, health systems can accurately determine which changes result in improvements. This supports a truly optimized patient financial experience,” said Mr. Nalle.
If you would like to share your RCM best practices, please email Kelly Gooch at kgooch@beckershealthcare.com to be featured in the “RCM tip of the day” series.
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