Hospitals and health systems can benefit from efforts to set up payment plans for patients prior to care, according to Dustin Hamilton, director of product at Louisville, Ky.-based ZirMed.
Mr. Hamilton shared the following tip with Becker's Hospital Review.
"As the portion of the medical bill paid by patients rises — by some estimates, to half of all medical bills by the end of the decade — more and more patients struggle to pay their full bill on the spot. For any money [that] cannot be paid, front-office staff can offer immediate assistance by setting up affordable payment plans. The best approach is to arrange a payment plan and obtain patient agreement before providing services. It helps to have an automated system for setting up and managing payment plans. Then, your organization can set the rules and minimum payment amount — and never have to field a call or inquiry from the patient who has their statement information and preferred payment method in hand."
Read more about patient payment plans here.
If you would like to share your RCM best practices, please email Kelly Gooch at kgooch@beckershealthcare.com to be featured in the "RCM tip of the day" series.
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