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When tragedy strikes, or when the deck seems stacked against us, we are typically faced with two options. Option 1, play the Blame Game. You know the one, when it’s always someone or something else’s fault, and there’s just not much we can do about it. Just got to wait it out.
Or there’s Option 2, what I like to call the “Reclaim Game”. When the chips are down, and things aren’t going our way, we can curse the skies, or we can focus on figuring out how to make things work. In my experience, this option brings about the best results. It may bring about some uncomfortable changes in the meantime, but the positive changes that come from increased necessity and drive can help us achieve even more than we did before.
Obviously, there are some unique circumstances where this may not apply. But when COVID hit, many organizations were faced with those same two options. Honestly, so was nearly everybody on the planet. The people and healthcare organizations that saw these uncertain and unprecedented times as an opportunity to improve reaped the rewards. With that said, the ongoing and after-effects of COVID have brought many unexpected challenges. One of which is declining patient volumes. Many hospitals around the country are still experiencing lower than normal patient visits and surgeries.
One critical access hospital in Utah experienced a 20.6% decrease in patient volumes due to COVID. Without government subsidies to prop them up, most critical access hospitals would be in significant financial distress from the impacts of the pandemic, but there was something different about this hospital.
Instead of seeing a corollary impact on their financial situation, this hospital saw a 7.7% increase in patient collections compared to pre-COVID collections. They credit their patient-centered revenue cycle process as a primary driver of this increase. With features like text-to-pay for medical bills, self-automated payment plans, cost estimation tools, and much more, they have patients paying faster than ever before.
As patient payments have moved online, their check processing decreased 32% and cash payments dropped by 60%. Optimizing these patient collections processes means their billing and revenue cycle staff are less overburdened with patient calls and complicated processes, so they can focus on more meaningful and enjoyable work. This also means their cost-to-collect was significantly reduced.
While COVID and its after-effects are still being felt by nearly every healthcare organization, this hospital saw tremendous benefit from taking the initiative to double down on making their revenue cycle more patient-centered. This effort has achieved the seemingly paradoxical result of higher patient revenue AND higher patient loyalty/satisfaction.
If you’re looking to seize the opportunity and revolutionize your revenue cycle, we’d love to connect. Our team at Wixcorp loves supporting hospitals around the country with enhanced technology to improve the way they help patients pay for their care.
We offer numerous products and services like text-to-pay, payment plan automation, estimation, scheduling, and much more. To see a full list, visit our website at www.wixcorp.com/solutions
When you’re ready to play the “Reclaim Game” and take your success into your own hands, we’ll be right here to empower you with the tools you need to improve.
To your success!
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