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Providers Urged to Focus on Price Transparency, Patient Engagement

Analysis  |  By Jack O'Brien  
   June 27, 2018

A white paper highlights the most significant 'pain points' for consumers and providers during healthcare experience.

Ensuring a positive patient experience while providing healthcare serves is a major opportunity to boost customer satisfaction and bolster revenue cycle operations, according to a white paper produced by Experian Health.

The report focuses on the biggest areas of concern along the healthcare journey for consumers and providers alike. 

The analysis found that during a start-to-finish timeline, improving a patient's financial experience served as the biggest area to improve overall customer satisfaction and optimize the revenue cycle.

Prominent issues for consumers:

  • Understanding how much is owed for services and net of health insurance coverage
  • Knowing the out-of-pocket costs associated with each step of care prior to receiving care
  • Knowing if the charged amount is a fair market price
  • Determining availability of financial support and flexibility, such as a payment plan
  • Making sure patients can pay for services

The less pressing issues for consumers were largely clinical compared to the financial and logistical concerns which dominated the findings. Providers also listed the largest impediments to addressing patient concerns, which demonstrated areas for organizational improvement.

Biggest challenges for providers:

  • Lack of holistic customer-centric plans
  • Unclear metrics on how to measure the customer experience across touchpoints over time
  • Handling patient expectations for those who don't understand healthcare charges or value of the services
  • Unequipped operationally to address customer engagement and loyalty
  • Uncertainty about how to encourage staff to use an approach that's relationship-driven instead of transactional

"We listen, learn, and innovate to meet the evolving needs of the healthcare industry, and we believe these pain points can be solved through the power of data," Kristen Simmons, senior vice president of strategy, innovation and marketing, said in a statement.

"Customers understand costs and can prepare to meet financial obligations in partnership with the provider, while organizations can ensure that charity funding and payment plans are extended to those most in need, reducing bad debt and improving customer satisfaction," Simmons added. "This takes the financial stress out of the relationship, and lets both parties focus on what matters most—the patient's health."

Simmons said some cultural aspects of clinical leadership need to change to meet the financial needs of patients to ensure a more satisfactory experience. While patients put a high value on the care they receive, they also place an emphasis on a frictionless financial experience that is clearly explained to them, according to Simmons.

Experian provided five potential areas for providers to consider embracing in order to give their patients a more satisfactory experience.

Revenue cycle solutions to problems:

  1. Incorporating comprehensive, outside data to improve patient experiences, interfacing with staff, and enabling revenue cycle to focus on patients
     
  2. Utilizing technology to improve patient identification, prevent duplication and medical errors, as well as developing data accuracy
     
  3. Establishing patient portals with a digital and consumer-centric focus on patient engagement for treatment options and financial assistance
     
  4. Embracing automated technology to make insurance reconciliation efficient, monitor claims data, and provide transparent cost estimates throughout healthcare journey
     
  5. Providers need to ensure that price estimates are accurate, proactively delivered to patients, and easy to understand for consumers utilizing financial assistance options

Jack O'Brien is the Content Team Lead and Finance Editor at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.


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