23 Jun Trends in Healthcare: What You Need to Know

The digital revolution isn’t coming, it’s already here. And if you’re not catering to the needs of the new digital native consumer, your practice is getting left behind.

That’s the takeaway from the tenth annual Trends in Healthcare report from InstaMed.

The report highlights the disconnect between patient expectations and reality; while they expect the healthcare payment process to be similar to their everyday experience in other areas, they instead find themselves mired in a world still tied to paper, self-contained systems, and manual processing. They expect transparency regarding pricing and payment, yet providers themselves are often left out of the loop when it comes to who is responsible at the end of the day. 

This disconnect and lack of streamlined digital options reduces clinical loyalty, leading to a slow trickle of lost patients seeking a better payment experience elsewhere. It also leaves providers on the hook for unpaid balances they might otherwise capture.

A few key facts:

• 92% of consumers are happy with their primary care relationship, but 66% would consider switching providers in return for a better payment experience.
• 84% of consumers pay their non-medical bills online, yet few have any option to pay online for medical services. Even statements tend to be old-fashioned paper; although 77% of medical consumers would like to enroll in eStatements, only 23% of providers offer them, and those who do send less than half their statements electronically.
• 83% would prefer electronic payment for medical bills, yet 88% of providers rely on manual or paper-based transactions to collect payment. And in a world where even banking has moved online, 81% of payers still use paper checks to pay providers.
• 89% of medical consumers want to know the amount of their payment responsibility upfront, and 85% want a website that estimates balances before their visit. Yet all too often, it’s impossible for providers to furnish this information due to the lack of digital interoperability between providers and payers.
• And finally, 74% of providers say it takes more than a month to collect unpaid balances.

Providers could save $2.7 billion just by fully adopting electronic transactions. How can your practice adapt to the ongoing digital revolution? 

To download the full Trends Report in PDF format, click here.

Tip: Pediatric practices can increase confidence with their patients and improve copayment and bill payment retention, by offering the option of contactless payments. Read more here.