As patients emerge as a critical payer source, it is imperative hospitals implement effective consumer pricing strategies to ensure patients know their financial responsibility prior to treatment.
Advisory Board surveyed more than 5,000 consumers and referring physicians nationwide to explore where and how patients search for medical pricing information for shoppable procedures.
Advisory Board defined "shoppable procedures" as services that are high-volume and/or elective, such as radiology, gastrointestinal diagnostics and orthopedic procedures, among others.
Below are six research findings.
1. About 56 percent of consumer respondents said they actively look for pricing information before getting care and 47 percent ranked out-of-pocket cost as the most important factor when it came to selecting a provider for highly shopped procedures.
2. Advisory Board found that a four-hospital system can see swings in revenue of $16 million to $40 million due to its consumer pricing strategy.
3. Ranked in descending order, consumer respondents said they were most likely to seek pricing information by:
- Asking the physician's office for cost information (27 percent)
- Calling their health insurance company (27 percent)
- Calling the administering hospital or medical facility (17 percent)
- Looking on their insurer's website (16 percent)
- Searching the internet (8 percent)
- Using hospital or medical facility's website (7 percent)
4. Ranked in descending order, consumers ranked methods they preferred to use to find price information:
- Contact their employer's health assistance program (26 percent)
- Search the internet for prices (15 percent)
- Look on their insurer's website (11 percent)
- Call their insurer to learn prices (8 percent)
- Use hospital or medical facility's website (5 percent)
- Ask their physician's office for price info (2 percent)
- Call a hospital or medical facility's billing department (2 percent)
5. About 60 percent of referring physicians surveyed felt their staff did not have accurate cost information to share with patients.
6. Advisory Board recommended hospitals implement the following three best practices to drive effective consumer pricing strategy.
- Make your estimates easily accessible and accurate. If patients have difficulty finding pricing on a hospital's website, they are more likely to choose another provider or forego care altogether.
- Provide staff with scripting for all points of service. Make sure hospital staff are well equipped with accurate financial information when speaking with patients at all points of service. Create call center scripting for your most highly shopped procedures to empower staff to quickly and accurately quote price, validate quality, schedule appointments and collect payment.
- Streamline the payment process. Hospitals can improve patient financial experience by enhancing their financial counseling services, sharing patient financial information across the enterprise, simplifying and consolidating patient billing statements and offering alternative payment plans.