View: How to use data to prepare for the rise of healthcare consumerism
Meet Joe. Joe made the mistake of forgetting to use oven mitts when taking his pizza out of the oven. Ouch. A few things come to mind: Can ice fix this one? Where is the nearest doctor? What are the reviews online? Will my pizza still be good when I get back to it later?
As you can see, a healthcare provider is analyzed well before the patient even walks through the doors. Healthcare providers have done a great job of investing in their marketing, waiting room experience, and care delivery.
However, the area that hasn’t evolved at the same rate is the patient billing experience. 30 years ago making money off the patient was a pure afterthought since insurance companies made up over 90% of their revenue.
Times have changed and the patient portion keeps increasing and we’re starting to demand more solutions around clarity, engagement, and payment options. The current way just isn’t cutting it anymore, which is too bad considering our friend Joe is twice as likely to pay his bill if he has a good payment experience.
Just as healthcare providers have invested in technology to improve the other areas of their business they must bolster the payment side. Fortunately, they’re sitting on a landmine of data that can help them navigate their patients through their bill. These data points can help them tailor their communication based on how old the patient is, their payment history, bill size, and even how long it’s been overdue.
On top of this information, patients are creating a bigger footprint than ever by engaging with emails, texts, and portals. Using this data you show be personalizing the content, timing, and mode of communication based on what they prefer.
If Joe is mostly checking his phone during lunch time on weekdays, why not reach him then? On top of the fact that 74% of satisfied patients paying their medical bills in full, they’re also more likely to come back in again. This point is critical because most players in the revenue cycle management space, which is really the financial side of healthcare, are focused on money and not patient satisfaction as it pertains to paying their bills.
My company MedPilot’s favorite statistic is that after working with close to a million patients we’ve boasted a 97% patient satisfaction score. This would be a high score if we were hand delivering out cupcakes let alone helping people with their medical bills. How do we accomplish it? By leveraging data to better personalize our approach.
Just remember, once Joe gets back home and finally gets a chance to finish that slice of pizza, he’s going to boot up his computer and tell the world how his experience was. You are going to want that to be positive.
Matt is the Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Cleveland-based MedPilot