Explore how automated reminders can enhance your medical practice's revenue collection and improve the overall patient billing experience.
No one likes to be contacted by collections for an overdue bill. At the same time, chasing down patient payments is often time-consuming and frustrating for healthcare practices. Many practices deal with constant late or missed payments from patients. Not only does this affect cash flow and increase administrative work, but it can also lead to the uncomfortable situation of sending a bill to collections — a circumstance no one prefers. Fortunately, you can implement a simple solution with modern billing software: automated reminders.
Pre-collection billing and automated reminders can help healthcare practices pursue payment before a bill is officially overdue. This can significantly improve your practice's income through collection rates, streamline billing processes, and enhance patient relationships through more positive billing practices.
What Is Pre-Collection Billing?
Pre-collection billing involves notifying patients of their unpaid medical bills before each bill becomes officially overdue. It enacts a “good faith” policy in which your healthcare practice and patients work together to pay bills on time through automated reminders via text and email with easy payment methods. This encourages earlier payments and maintains a more positive relationship with your patients.
Pre-collection communication can reduce the time to payment by up to 50%, with patients paying an average of 9 days faster when they receive multiple reminders across different channels. By implementing pre-collection billing, you can drastically reduce the likelihood of patient bills going uncollected. It helps to maintain a healthy cash flow while also boosting patient satisfaction and keeping open lines of communication.
The Importance of Timely Payments in Healthcare
Your practice relies on timely payments to maintain a robust cash flow and steady operational budget. The financial health of your practice also depends on receiving payments as expected, not after they become long overdue or lost to collections. You can reduce the risk of unpaid bills and unnecessary administrative work by improving payment timeliness.
Your billing solutions also significantly impact patient relations. Complicated or unclear billing can result in patient confusion, dissatisfaction, and bills going to collections before patients realize they are due. This can harm long-term relationships and damage patients' loyalty and trust in your practice.
Automated Reminders: A Game-Changer for Pre-Collection Billing
Automated reminders play an important role in pre-collection billing. With modern billing software, it is now simpler to schedule timely reminders for patients to pay their medical bills before the due date. These reminders go out automatically, without any additional administrative work. They can also significantly improve patient communication and on-time payments for your practice.
Overview of BillFlash's Automated Reminders
BillFlash is a billing software platform designed to meet the unique needs of healthcare practices. Automated reminders are one of the many options that make medical billing easier and more accessible for practices and patients.
BillFlash can send up to three text and email reminders per patient each month until the balance is paid, ensuring patients stay informed of their financial responsibility.
Once you receive payment, you automatically remove patients from the reminder sequence. This ensures they only receive reminders when they have an outstanding balance. Practices only pay for successfully sent reminders, ensuring a cost-effective solution.
How It Works
So how do automated reminders work behind the curtain? Let's explore BillFlash's features and how you can adjust the settings to meet your practice's unique needs and client communication standards.
Text & Email Cadence
You can create a tailored reminder schedule designed to motivate patients to pay without overwhelming them. You can also set the pace for reminders, deciding how often they are sent and the time frame from the initial invoice to the overdue date.
Set It and Forget It
Once you build your reminder schedule and policies, the process is fully automated — there is no need for manual follow-ups. After setup, the system sends reminders according to the established rules.
Patients receive reminders with a link to the BillFlash payment portal, PayWoot.com, which makes it easy for them to pay their bills and ensures they are promptly removed from the reminder list workflow.
The Benefits of Automated Pre-Collection Reminders
Implementing automated reminders offers many benefits to your healthcare practice and patients. These include faster payments, reduced administration, improved cash flow, and patient satisfaction.
Faster Payments
The automated reminder system prompts patients to pay sooner after their initial invoice. The reminders help patients keep their balance top-of-mind and remember to pay their medical bills alongside other monthly expenses.
Studies also show that sending payment reminders significantly reduces the time it takes to pay bills. According to MYOB, 21% of invoices are paid after the first automated message, 20% are paid after the second reminder, and 32% after the third.
Reduced Administrative Burden
If your admin staff is occupied sending billing reminders and worrying about collections, automated reminders can remove a significant burden from their schedules. Your staff can focus more on patient care instead of chasing payments.
Improved Cash Flow
By increasing the speed of payment collection through reminders, your practice can maintain a steady cash flow. You can ensure more continuous payments rather than long waits and collection delays. This reduces the risk of financial struggles and the need for loans and external funding to cover your regular operational expenses.
Patient Satisfaction
Lastly, patients are much happier paying their bills on time instead of dealing with collections. Timely reminders foster trust and open communication while removing the frustration of sudden collection calls and overdue notices. Automated reminders gently nudge patients to pay and allows them to keep their medical bills in good standing.
Customizing Automated Reminders to Fit Your Practice
The key to successful automated reminders is customization. Every practice is unique, from the services you offer to your preferred communication pace with your patients. Shaping your automated reminders to fit your practice can help create the right schedule and communication style that works best for you.
- Timing: Determine the preferred cadence for your billing reminders. You can send up to three emails and three texts per month based on patient preferences and behavior.
- Customization: Adjust your automated billing reminders to align with your practice's tone and the nature of your patient base. You can make reminders feel less like generic alerts and more like helpful nudges from your friendly medical staff.
Experience the Convenience of BillFlash Automated Reminders
BillFlash is a billing software solution crafted with the needs of medical practices in mind. Ready to take control of your billing process and boost your collections? Schedule a demo with BillFlash today to see how our pre-collection billing solution, Automated Reminders, can put your billing on autopilot and ensure you receive payment with minimal effort.