More and more, patients expect their digital interactions in healthcare to mirror those of retailers. Organizations that deliver these experiences are likely to see increases in patient satisfaction and engagement, as well as financial health.
This was a key theme from an executive roundtable sponsored by Zotec Partners at Becker's 9th Annual Health IT + Digital Health + RCM Conference. The roundtable was led by Tom Cavanaugh, vice president of product management, Zotec Partners, and Dave Walker, chief revenue officer, Radiology Associates of North Texas in Fort Worth, Texas. They discussed how AI and technology in the revenue cycle can help increase patient satisfaction.
Here are three key takeaways from the session:
- Patient satisfaction correlates to the patient's financial experience. During the session, Mr. Cavanaugh shared research that indicates 90% of patients say the quality of their healthcare financial experience is a deciding factor for returning to a provider. Further, he noted that patients satisfied with hospital billing processes are five times more likely to recommend that facility to a friend. These data points, in addition to the roundtable participants' discussion, underscored how patients' financial experiences matter.
- Healthcare organizations are looking to use AI and other technologies to increase patient satisfaction. The roundtable discussion outlined three primary use cases related to finance:
- RCM optimization technology: Organizations can maximize their reimbursements and reduce bad debt by intelligently matching and updating denied and true self-pay claims.
- Intelligent guarantor outreach: Dynamic outreach optimizes data for each patient and determines the next-best action. Patients receive customized communications and payment options.
- Proactive feedback to drive patient satisfaction: By asking for reviews, healthcare organizations increase total reviews by 79% and shift from an average 1.8-star Google rating to 4.1 stars.
- Zotec helps Radiology Associates of North Texas increase collections and patient satisfaction. Previously, Radiology Associates of North Texas — a private practice — faced ongoing economic changes, patients' limited ability to pay, new government policies and rising patient expectations.
To help address these issues, the organization used Zotec's Intelligent Guarantor Outreach as part of its end-to-end revenue cycle management solution. As a result, Radiology Associates of North Texas has increased its daily guarantor payments by almost 30% and boosted its net promoter score from 40 to 46.