Consolidating payments for healthcare systems

September 21, 2023

Consolidating payments can improve the patient experience and the health of your company. If you’re thinking about updating your payment systems, here are some strategies that can help.

In the current healthcare climate, people have become more than just patients—they’re healthcare consumers who want holistic health and wellness solutions that offer user-friendly experiences and transparency into costs and services. Healthcare providers interested in improving patient experience at every stage of the healthcare journey are looking for ways to simplify, streamline, and secure interactions.

One way that healthcare providers are improving patient experience is through payment consolidation across clinical and non-clinical spaces. Implementing the right payment solution demands a nuanced understanding of payment touchpoints as well as the needs of all the people involved, including healthcare staff, patients, and patient families. This approach benefits patients by improving their overall experience, but it also plays a significant role in enhancing the financial health of healthcare organizations.

If you’re considering consolidating payments, here are five strategies that can help.

1. Create consistency

Minimizing payment complexity and confusion for both patients and staff is key to implementing a successful payment system. Creating a user-friendly standardized platform is an ideal way to enhance patient experience and minimize processing, reporting, and reconciling time for staff. A consistent look and feel across all patient touchpoints succeeds by being easy to use, increasing familiarity, streamlining tasks, and building customer satisfaction and trust.

2. Define your goal

Do you want to improve the overall patient experience or integrate with a current EMR system? Perhaps you’ve been tasked with boosting accounts payable staff efficiency or gaining transparency into revenue flow. A clear vision of your goal can help you implement a payment solution that fits your needs, meets all stakeholder expectations, and provides a simple, effective solution for patients and staff.

3. Reduce redundant processes

Once you understand what works and where gaps exist across your current acceptance channels and processes, you’ll discover where, when, and how you can consolidate and optimize payment processes. By eliminating overlap and labor-intensive manual processes, a consolidated payment solution helps administrators understand relevant metrics and cash flow.

4. Minimize risk

Financial and reputational damage due to data breaches can be devastating. Consolidating payments streamlines vendors and processes, reducing security risks. Make your IT team a part of strategy development from day one and keep them involved in all aspects of designing and maintaining interfaces, capabilities, integration, testing, QA, and data security.

5. Train staff

From receptionists and pharmacists to accounting and coffee shop staff, ensuring that everyone in your organization has access to standardized training can help make launching a payment solution a success. Help your staff get comfortable with the new platform, show them how it can simplify their workflow, and increase patient satisfaction.

 

Our dedicated healthcare industry team understands your unique challenges. Partner with us to find ways we can improve patient experience, consolidate payments, and sustain organizational revenue. Learn more about our Healthcare Payment Solutions or contact us to speak with a healthcare payments consultant.

Related content

Transition to international ACH

4 ways Request for Payments (RfP) changes consumer bill pay

Future-proofing healthcare treasury through automation

Restaurant surveys show changing customer payment preferences

Enhancing the patient experience through people-centered payments

Digital trends poised to reshape hotel payments

Cashless business pros and cons: Should you make the switch?

Automate escheatment for accounts payable to save time and money

3 benefits of integrated payments in healthcare

More payment options create checkout success

Want AP automation to pay both businesses and consumers?

Meeting healthcare strategy goals with electronic patient refunds

Looking for a better banking solution for global payments and deposits?

Starting the path to digital supplier payments

Transforming AR in B2B companies

Global payments: 4 ways to improve international transactions

Access, flexibility and simplicity: How governments can modernize payments to help their citizens

How the next evolution of consumer bill pay makes it easier to do business

ABCs of APIs: Drive treasury efficiency with real-time connectivity

5 reasons to streamline healthcare accounts payable

Colleges respond to student needs by offering digital payments

Benefits of billing foreign customers in their own currency

Hospitals face cybersecurity risks in surprising new ways

Demystifying ISO 20022

Managing cross-border payments in emerging markets

Creating the ideal patient journey

5 reasons to upgrade B2B payment acceptance methods

Take a fresh look: mass transit is going places

Making the cross-border payment decision: Wire or international ACH?

Drive digital transformation with payments innovation

Standardizing healthcare payments

Integrated payments healthcare benefits

Consolidating payments for healthcare systems

Role of complementary new channels in your payments strategy

Navigate changing consumer behavior with service fees

Modernizing fare payment without leaving any riders behind

Tap-to-pay: Modernizing fare payments pays off for transit agencies and riders

Webinar: Approaching international payment strategies in today’s unpredictable markets.

Escheatment resources: Reporting deadlines for all 50 states

Payment industry trends that are the future of POS

White Castle optimizes payment transactions

Managing the rising costs of payment acceptance with service fees

Three healthcare payment trends that will continue to matter in 2022

Webinar: CSM corporation re-thinks AP

Increase working capital with Commercial Card Optimization

Banking connectivity: Helping businesses deliver the easier, faster, more secure customer experience of the future

Tech tools to keep your restaurant operations running smoothly

Crack the Swift code for sending international wires

Top 3 ways digital payments can transform the patient experience

Automate accounts payable to optimize revenue and payments

A simple guide to set up your online ordering restaurant

ePOS cash register training tips and tricks

Ways prepaid cards disburse government funds to the unbanked

3 reasons governments and educational institutions should implement service fees

Webinar: AP automation for commercial real estate

Understanding and preparing for the new payment experience

Addressing financial uncertainty in international business

Rent payments: What’s changing for commercial real estate

Safeguarding the payment experience through contactless

COVID-19 safety recommendations: Are you ready to reopen?

Higher education and the cashless society: Latest trends

5 winning strategies for managing liquidity in volatile times

3 ways to make practical use of real-time payments

The surprising truth about corporate cards

Instant Payments: Accelerating treasury disruption

The future of financial leadership: More strategy, fewer spreadsheets

How AI in treasury management is transforming finance

Can faster payments mean better payments?

4 benefits to paying foreign suppliers in their own currency

Restaurant surveys show changing customer payment preferences

Unexpected cost savings may be hiding in your payment strategy

Transition to international ACH

Digital trends poised to reshape hotel payments

Enhancing the patient experience through people-centered payments

Optimizing treasury management

What corporate treasurers need to know about Virtual Account Management

Key considerations for online ordering systems

How Everyday Funding can improve cash flow

Disclosures

Start of disclosure content

Loan approval is subject to credit approval and program guidelines. Not all loan programs are available in all states for all loan amounts. Interest rate and program terms are subject to change without notice. Mortgage, Home Equity and Credit products are offered through U.S. Bank National Association. Deposit products are offered through U.S. Bank National Association. Member FDIC.