Hospitals struggling to collect patient receivables should use technology to evaluate propensity to pay, said Jonathan Wiik, author of Healthcare Revolution: The Patient is the New Payer and principal for healthcare strategy at TransUnion Healthcare.
He said evaluating propensity to pay can help organizations quickly collect in-house on patient accounts identified with a high likelihood to collect and save on collection costs.
"The key is to use this solution as early as possible in the account lifecycle, preferably on day one, to collect more, earlier and for less. Providers can streamline their collections process by using [propensity to pay] analytics to accurately classify accounts into the optimal payment workflow based on the patient's unique financial situation," said Mr. Wiik.
"This process must consider the patient's ability and willingness to pay so staff can focus on the accounts with the highest probability to pay, while also segmenting accounts for collections and charity care, helping to improve cash flow and overall collections yield. By taking this step, providers are able to reduce costs by keeping more accounts in-house, thus minimizing collection vendor contingency fees."
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