The revenue cycle management department of a national gastroenterology ambulatory surgery center (ASC) and practice operator used a conversational, two-way texting revenue cycle solution to improve patient collections and communication while reducing manual labor.
The Problem
Recognizing its primary methods of patient outreach concerning bill payment – robocalls and manual calls – were failing to achieve the desired bottom-line results, PE GI Solutions, a developer, owner, and manager of gastroenterology ASCs and practices in partnership with physicians, went looking for a better way to communicate and engage with patients to strengthen collections and overall financial performance.
The Solution
PE chose a healthcare industry-leading, HIPAA compliant, two-way text messaging platform, and leveraged the Revenue Cycle Management Solution to improve its patient financial communication and collections. PE worked to implement a customized, automated patient payment reminder text message campaign that would be sent by more than 70 of its GI centers. The campaign sent texts every 30 days to patients with an account balance until the balance was fully paid off. Each center sent a variation of the following text message to patients (see image below). Although texts were automated, each center was able to easily customize its name, phone number, and pay portal link in the message and revise the wording to ensure patients received their unique account balance. Revenue cycle solutions simplify and improve collection communications.
The Results
From November 2021 - October 2022, PE's 70-plus centers achieved the following:
Increased Revenue
- Increased accounts receivable by 21%
- A substantial return on PE's investment in the Revenue Cycle Management Solution
Better Patient Compliance
- A significant increase in patient usage of online payment portals
- A better overall patient payment experience, as they could easily choose to pay via portal or over the phone
Reduced Staff Workload
- Decrease in staff hours associated with manual patient outreach and communication, collections, and data entry
The Conclusion
The Revenue Cycle Management Solution has streamlined and improved collections for PE's centers and reduced staff labor associated with securing patient payments. For patients, it has made communication about payments less intrusive while making it simpler to submit payments via portal or phone.
- 21% INCREASE IN YOY PATIENT A/R
- 96% OF PATIENTS REMAINED OPTED IN TO TEXT MESSAGING
- 54% OF PATIENTS PAID OFF THEIR BALANCE IN FULL AFTER RECEIVING ONE OR TWO TEXT MESSAGE REMINDERS