Healthcare providers are behind the curve when it comes to adopting automated billing technologies, according to a recent survey by BillingTree.
BillingTree, a payment solutions provider, surveyed healthcare organizations about opportunities and challenges they face in meeting business objectives related to medical payments. Respondents included healthcare payment collection firms, physician practices and multi-site healthcare providers.
Below are four survey findings.
1. Unsurprisingly, respondents said collecting payments once the patient has left the facility is their greatest challenge today.
2. Respondents said the most important factor in choosing a payment processing partner is integration with the current patient management system.
3. Virtually all respondents (93.3 percent) indicated they accept onsite and mail-in forms of payment, 86.7 percent said they accept payments over the phone, 66.7 percent said they provide online payment tools and 6.7 percent said have an automated payment system through their phone service. Researchers suggested healthcare providers have adopted electronic payment methods much more slowly than retail and other consumer-oriented industries.
4. When asked about plans to enhance or augment patient payment collections in the next year, non-technology solutions such as payment plans (26.7 percent) and third-party collections (22.67 percent) were most popular. Implementing automated payment options to their phone system was ranked last (13.3 percent).
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