Why integrating healthcare payment solutions with practice management software increases patient satisfaction

Driven by the global health crisis, businesses across all industries have had to adapt to changes in customer preferences—and healthcare providers are no different. Along with the adoption of new technologies such as virtual visits, telemedicine, and electronic health records, many practices are looking to upgrade or expand their healthcare payment solutions to meet new patient needs.

A few key changes to your payment technology can help improve overall patient satisfaction and give your business reputation a boost.

More value for patients

Your patients are consumers too and they're used to paying for goods and services across a variety of different channels–using a variety of payment methods The right payment technology will extend that omnichannel experience into your healthcare practice.

Let your patients:

• Pay at their visit.
• Pay over the phone.
• Pay an invoice through email with a payment link.
• Mail in their payment.
• Make a one-time or recurring online payment.
• Pay in installments.

In addition to giving them multiple channels to pay, your patients also expect a choice of payment methods. Credit, debit, cheque and digital wallets are all popular payment types. Make sure you're also keeping a pulse on the latest payment trends to continue to meet patients' needs over time. Here are some current trends to watch:

Safety

Since the pandemic, many Canadians have changed the way they pay. A 2020 study conducted by Visa concluded that 40% of Canadian consumers would not frequent a business that only offered payment methods that require contact with a cashier or on shared devices.

This preference extends to healthcare as well. Fifty-four percent of consumers prefer to manage their healthcare payments digitally, according to a recent study. For both patients and practitioners, digital payments eliminate the hassles of handling cash or cheques.

Flexibility

Offered for many years by orthodontists, installment plans are becoming more widely adopted in the healthcare industry, allowing flexibility from having to make large upfront payments—especially when patients may not have sufficient insurance coverage or other subsidies are unavailable. Dividing large transactions into smaller, more manageable payments could be the difference your practice needs to gain a new customer or keep an existing one.

Enhancing payment channels and methods in your business makes it safer, easier and more convenient for patients to pay for their care. And making all of the payment options that are available to your patients clear and transparent from the beginning can further elevate the experience you provide.

More efficient administration

Did you know that office management solutions can integrate with payment technology in a single platform? This integration opens the door to greater operational efficiencies for your practice. The combination of office management software and payments offers features like:

• Appointment scheduling
• Patient management
• Billing
• Patient consent forms
• Claims management

So you can focus more time on building your business. And with robust analytics and reporting available through an innovative reporting portal, you can also create more accurate forecasts and business strategies based on payments data. What's more, use the social media monitoring tool to compare how you stack up against your local competition.

Upgrading your payment technology to meet new patient preferences and expectations will help you build a stronger business while improving the patient experience. And give you a competitive edge.

When you're ready to upgrade or expand your healthcare payment solutions, we can help you streamline your administrative operations, forecast your business plans, and accept payments in multiple channels and methods from patients.