Are you trying to understand why patients don’t pay? If you are having trouble collecting or are writing off too many patient collections, there could be several reasons why.
As you know, over the past several years the healthcare industry and the patient payment landscape has been changing. The methods, practices, and procedures that once worked no longer do. Many offices are implementing new policies and procedures to help protect themselves.
In the meantime, patients have taken on the mindset of “consumer”. At the same time that patients feel healthcare costs are out of control, they feel more in control of the choices that they have. This is because they are paying more than they ever have for their healthcare. If they don’t like the options and services offered at your healthcare practice, they will shop around until they find one that works best for them.
With all of this in mind, here are three main reasons why patients don’t pay.
- High Deductible Health Plans (HDHP). With the rise in HDHP, patients are footing the bill for more of their medical expenses than over and it is taking a toll. In fact, recent statistics show that 56% of consumers would not be able to pay their medical bill if it was $1,000 or more.
- Patients don’t understand their costs up front. According to recent reports, 70% of patients are confused by their medical bills. Help your patients understand the costs up front so that they are not surprised by their bill when it comes. Patients are shopping around for the best price because they are responsible for more of their healthcare expenses, and if you are an office who can help them understand their costs up front, you will stand out from the crowd. Because most places can’t.
- Making payments isn’t convenient. Patients like options. Giving them more options such as payment plans, online payments, and/or keeping a credit card on file opens up the opportunities for them to cooperate with you.
If you have done everything you can and are still having trouble collecting from patients or are looking to outsource your medical billing, contact us. We can set up a free one hour consultation to help address your billing challenges.
For more information on packages and services that LPZ Claim Solutions provides give us a call at 480-207-6367 or email [email protected] .