How helping patients find financial advocacy improves patient satisfaction and reduces bad debt
How Patient Financial Advocacy Improves Patient Satisfaction and Reduces Bad Debt
Patient Financial Experience
The patient financial experience within the U.S. Healthcare System is unique due to the variety and complexity of the different payer-systems. A patient’s expectation of their medical bill being as straightforward as the treatment should not be unrealistic. However, it is not of this time. In combination with the complex nature of medical bills, the patient’s out-of-pocket responsibility has increased due to high deductible and high-cost sharing insurance plans.
A TransUnion Healthcare analysis revealed that patients are, on average, experiencing at least a 10% increase in average annual out-of-pocket costs, and the average burden on each patient is approximately $2,000 – an unaffordable hurdle for most patients that is leading to millions of dollars of bad medical debt for the average healthcare system.
Given the constant media attention about the burden of healthcare costs, patients are increasingly expecting their practitioner to either help them with patient financial advocacy or absorb some of the patient’s financial burden due to financial hardship. Therefore, it is in the best interest of all parties for the physician/hospital/pharmacy to provide financial advocacy services in tandem with clinical services to improve revenue recovery and patient loyalty.
Patient satisfaction and patient experience are inextricably linked. As patient out-of-pocket responsibility continues climb, the medical practices that take proactive measures to help meet the patient’s financial needs and improve the patient experience will be the practices to prosper.
Any practice that has attempted to provide in-house patient financial advocacy soon comes to realize the administrative burden that it puts on existing staff, and often are required to hire additional FTE’s to manage these programs on behalf of their patients. This is where Q Consulting Support Services steps in.
Q Consulting Support Services specializes in providing Financial Advocacy to help patients with the out-of-pocket expenses associated with treatment. Our dedicated staff partners with clients ranging from small oncology practices to the country’s largest healthcare systems. Our Support Service team applies for funding on the qualifying patient’s behalf through grants and financial assistance programs. After funding approval, we monitor and submit EOBs with patient out-of-pocket expenses, and follows-up on any denials to ensure payment is received promptly. Ultimately, increasing patient satisfaction and reducing the financial burden on the provider’s office or facility by guaranteeing patient out-of-pocket expenses are obtained, which reduces bad debt and increases revenue.