Discover how pre-visit billing improves patient payments and boosts the revenue cycle of healthcare and dental practices.
For healthcare and dental practices, time is money—literally. Unfortunately, many bills sent to patients become difficult to collect once they reach a certain mark. This results in practices losing the revenue they deserve. Healthcare and dental practices also face cash flow disruptions due to delayed payments and high accounts receivable days. Research shows a clear relationship between accounts receivable age and the likelihood of collection, indicating that balances over 120 days carry significantly greater risks of turning into bad debt. This is where the power of pre-visit billing comes in.
If your aging accounts receivable is rising, it's not just another added worry—it is a direct risk to your healthcare or dental practice's financial state. Every dollar that remains in overdue accounts receivable is a lost opportunity. You will spend money on resources pursuing payments that may never materialize. Traditional billing processes—relying on post-visit invoicing and manual follow-ups—are no longer sustainable for many practices in an era of rising patient financial responsibility and changing insurance regulations.
These A/R challenges demand modern solutions. Pre-visit billing offers faster revenue cycles and reduced accounts receivable strain.
The Challenges of Traditional Billing
Traditional billing can bring several challenges to healthcare and dental practices in our otherwise digital world. These billing methods follow a reactive pattern: Patients are treated, patient statements are submitted after the visit, and providers wait weeks or months to be paid. This reactive process creates significant delays between patient service delivery and payment collection.
Approximately 25% of payments to small healthcare providers arrive past due, creating considerable cash flow challenges. This problem became critical in early 2024 when hospitals and health systems experienced a wave of late payments, resulting in revenue shortfalls of up to 18% in the first quarter alone. As practices grow, the flaws magnify. Higher patient volumes mean more opportunities for errors: a mistyped number here, a missed follow-up there. A simple process can quickly become a time-consuming struggle to chase payments, fix mistakes, and maintain a steady cash flow.
Some additional pain points of traditional billing processes include:
- High Administrative Workload. These billing methods overwhelm staff with paperwork. They steal time from patient care and stretch administrative resources to the breaking point.
- Frequent Billing Errors. According to Becker's Hospital Review, approximately 80% of medical bills contain errors, such as incorrect coding or insufficient documentation. These billing errors can lead to delayed payments and severely affect cash flow and practice profitability.
- Extended A/R Days Impacting Cash Flow. A/R days over 30-40 can quickly turn into longer days, severely affecting a practice's ability to cover operating expenses. Healthcare providers lose up to 30% of potential revenue because of billing and reimbursement delays.
Impact on Patient Relationships and Financial Strain
One of the most concerning pain points of not using pre-visit billing is the impact on patient relationships. Once a patient leaves a hospital or dentist's office after their visit, the collection rate can drop significantly, often falling between 50% and 70% for insured patients. This means practices may collect as little as half of what they're owed after patients leave the office, creating a financial strain that impacts operational stability.
Recent data shows that 41% of adults have medical or dental debt, highlighting how widespread this problem is. This can include debts to credit cards, collection agencies, family, friends, banks, and other lenders, worsening patients' financial burden. These challenges make it even harder for practices to collect payments after billing patients, further straining their revenue cycle.
What Is Pre-Visit Billing?
Patients often express dissatisfaction with unclear billing practices, with 1 out of 3 reporting frustration. This frustration comes from issues like 24% of patients not realizing they owed money and 13% stating they never received a bill. As a result, medical bills often end up in collections, creating stress and damaging patient-provider relationships. The reactive nature of traditional billing creates a cycle of addressing problems instead of implementing preventative solutions.
Traditional billing processes often fail to meet patient expectations as healthcare and dental care shift toward greater price transparency. Pre-visit billing is a modern approach in healthcare that involves verifying patient financial responsibility and collecting payments before the patient's visit. Unlike traditional billing, which processes charges post-service, pre-visit billing simplifies payments by addressing financial obligations upfront. This proactive approach helps eliminate the delays and administrative burdens associated with post-service patient billing.
The mechanics of pre-visit billing begin days before a patient's appointment with detailed insurance verification. This allows staff to determine the patient's expected financial responsibility based on their insurance coverage and the anticipated services. After calculating this information, patients will receive clear cost estimates through their preferred communication channels. Many modern systems, such as BillFlash's PreBill, send patients secure links via text or email where they can view and pay their bills ahead of time.
This approach creates much-needed transparency around healthcare and dental costs. Pre-visit billing establishes financial expectations and removes the surprise factor, helping patients feel more comfortable seeking additional care. Many patients want to know what they owe upfront before receiving care. This type of clarity can change the relationship between providers and patients, creating a foundation of trust.
Benefits of Pre-Visit Billing
Pre-visit billing benefits healthcare and dental providers by enhancing financial performance and patient experience. Collecting payments at or before the time of service eliminates the long waiting periods common in traditional billing processes. This direct access to funds improves financial stability, improves budgeting abilities, and creates opportunities for more investments in facilities, technology, and staff.
Pre-visit billing also brings major advantages in efficiency. By collecting payments upfront, providers reduce the administrative resources required for post-service patient billing activities. Staff members spend less time generating statements, processing patient payments, and pursuing accounts that have fallen into collections. This frees staff to focus on more impactful work that improves patient care and practice performance. Pre-visit verification minimizes billing errors, enhancing efficiency by resolving issues before they cause payment delays.
Pre-visit billing enhances the patient experience by providing transparency, reducing anxiety, and preventing frustration over unexpected medical bills. By providing accurate cost estimates before appointments, providers allow patients to review and plan for expenses. In addition, it enables providers to identify patients who may need financial assistance before their appointments. This creates opportunities for proactive discussions about flexible payment plans.
The long-term financial impact of pre-visit billing goes beyond quicker cash flow. With more predictable revenue streams, healthcare and dental practices can make more informed decisions regarding their practices. Reducing bad debt and collection costs also improves profitability, creating a stronger financial foundation for long-term success. These benefits make this billing method an important strategy for healthcare or dental practices of any size.
BillFlash PreBill: Revolutionizing Pre-Visit Billing
Among the leading solutions for pre-visit billing, BillFlash's PreBill stands out. PreBill simplifies billing processes by helping practices collect patient payments upfront, minimizing frustrating payment delays. The service works through a streamlined process where providers send patients pre-visit charges via a secure link through text or email directly from their BillFlash account.
Patients then click the secure link, access the secure payment portal (PayWoot.com), and complete their payment before arriving for their appointment. By shifting the payment timeline to before or at the time of service, PreBill ensures providers get paid faster without requiring a bill to be generated first. These services help practices streamline revenue cycles and reduce resources spent on payment collections.
One of the most significant advantages of BillFlash's pre-visit billing is its versatility across different care delivery models. BillFlash PreBill works for in-office and telehealth visits, ensuring consistent revenue collection regardless of how care is delivered. This flexibility is valuable in today's healthcare environment. For many practices offering virtual care, securing payment before a telehealth appointment is one of the keys to maintaining financial stability and preventing revenue leakage.
Innovative Approach to Billing
One of BillFlash PreBill's key strengths is its innovative approach to billing. It is designed for situations where a formal invoice has not been generated or is not needed. Whether securing payment before an appointment or addressing scenarios where traditional billing methods fall short, BillFlash PreBill empowers you to collect funds with minimal effort. This proactive solution streamlines revenue cycles, reduces administrative burdens, ensures financial clarity, prevents revenue leakage, and fosters patient trust.
PreBill's integration capabilities also enhance its value for healthcare and dental practices. BillFlash integrates with 100+ billing applications, enabling practices to keep their workflow while gaining the advantages of pre-visit billing. This integration eliminates duplicate data entry and ensures financial information flows smoothly between systems.
Implementing Pre-Visit Billing With BillFlash
Successful implementation of pre-visit billing requires planning and effective communication with staff and patients. For practices adopting BillFlash PreBill, implementation starts with evaluating revenue cycle processes and identifying pain points that pre-visit billing can resolve. This creates a foundation for developing custom strategies that align with practice goals and resources.
Practices increase the likelihood of timely payments by minimizing the differences between billed amounts and actual charges. Reduced billing errors simplify the invoicing process, making it more efficient and improving overall collection rates. These improvements boost profitability and ease stress by reducing the unpredictability of cash flow, directly impacting the practice’s bottom line.
Security is another key factor in pre-visit billing implementation, especially as data breaches continue to increase in medical and dental practices. PreBill takes proper security measures to protect sensitive patient information. Patients receive text and email notifications without sensitive details included. Instead, they receive a secure link to PayWoot.com, where they can view their billing information. These protections ensure compliance with privacy regulations while building patient trust.
Transforming Healthcare and Dental Practices—Join the Future of Billing
Delayed payments and unmanageable billing processes no longer need to hold your healthcare or dental practice back. With the right solution, you can reclaim control of your revenue cycle and improve the overall patient experience. At BillFlash, our pre-visit billing service is not just a smarter way to collect patient payments—it's a commitment to transparency, efficiency, and modern healthcare management.
By shifting the payment conversation to before appointments, PreBill ensures that you're converting “delayed” to “paid” at a faster rate. With smooth integration, strong security, and proven results, BillFlash is proud to stand at the forefront of this billing process. Are you ready to take the first step toward faster, more efficient billing? Visit BillFlash today to learn more about pre-visit billing and schedule your demo.