As healthcare systems struggle to stabilize their reimbursements while improving patient experience, many questions are yet to be answered before making a suitable decision. According to the changing spectrum of the healthcare industry in the USA, hospitals and other provider facilities need to shift to a value-based care model. But on the other hand, the unpredictable scenarios due to the pandemic have left the healthcare systems overloaded and underpaid. Hospitals are struggling to keep themselves afloat and even trying their best to avoid complete shut-downs.
In this situation, as elective care returns full-scale, providers and healthcare organizations are trying to incorporate diverse payment options in their systems to steer clear of stalling reimbursements. A non-recourse payment plan is one such option few healthcare systems are considering to achieve this goal. Is this payment plan a viable option? Can it be the answer to the providers’ RCM medical billing issues?
This article will discuss in-depth modern non-recourse payment plans and if they are suitable for your organization’s RCM medical billing issues.
Expanding Payment Options to Improve Patient Experience
- Improving patient experience is one of the top priorities for the health systems currently to keep up with the dwindling volume of elective care due to the pandemic.
- One in every four health systems says that over 40% of patients delay or cancel their elective health service due to rising out-of-pocket expenses.
- Most health systems are now looking forward to making a range of payment options available to the patients to meet the competitive demand.
- According to the recent research conducted by the HIMSS, around 50% of the healthcare systems are relying on patient financing options to meet the growing demands.
- The statistics indicate that the healthcare spectrum is changing in a different direction, and only improving the patient experience can bring it to a balanced scale.
What are the benefits of non-recourse finance plans in RCM medical billing?
Non-recourse finance plans are slowly gaining popularity in the healthcare industry. According to popular surveys, 16% of healthcare organizations have incorporated non-resource financing into their systems currently. However, the numbers continue to grow with patient demands. Here’s what you need to know about the gaining popularity of this format of financing:
- The section of patients with high-deductible health insurance plans is increasing in the USA. The numbers have significantly risen due to the unpredictability of the pandemic in the last year.
- In the last ten years, the deductible amount has almost doubled,while the average pay hike over the entire country has been around 20%.
- This means that both uninsured individuals and individuals covered by employer insurance can face difficulty paying any unexpected out-of-pocket expenditures.
- With the administrative and patient care pressure increasing on the providers, non-recourse payment options can take off the issue of stalled collections.
- The provider need not wait for the patient to pay for the services. They do not need to follow up with the patients to collect the outstanding amount.
- The non-recourse financial partners can pay the provider up front, which leaves the provider free of administrative burden.
- A provider or a facility with a limited revenue cycle management staff need not delve into every billing task since the payment partners take care of it.
- It also significantly lowers the risk of losing out on payments for the services rendered since the finance partner follows it up with the patient themselves.
- Surveys also show that non-recourse finance plans have helped reduce the number of days spent in AR by over 60%.
- Most popular non-recourse financial partners have upgraded their online payment options to enable the patients to pay through convenient ways like text-to-pay.
- Apart from the healthcare services, this payment plan helps the business workflow of the healthcare organizations to be up and running.
What are the downsides of the non-recourse payment plan?
Despite having several benefits in an ideal scenario, there are many reasons why a significant number of organizations do not prefer to opt-in for the non-recourse payment option.
- Non-recourse payment plans apply to a specific patient population, especially those with a good credit score.
- The eligible credit score usually starts from 640. This leaves out about a third of the USA’s population. Depending on the kind of patients coming to your organization, you need to decide which plan is suitable for you.
- The interest rates for these financing options are also high compared to recourse payment plans.
- Considering a 5 to 20% interest rate, healthcare financing in actuality leads to a significant rise in healthcare costs. It often is not feasible for the patient, leading to lower patient retention.
- Taking the credit score into account fuels the systematic discrimination in the patient community, which is not the goal of a healthcare organization.
Can you have two options simultaneously in a single organization?
Having a hybrid model of healthcare financing that has both recourse and non-recourse financing options might seem like a way out, but it can get your system even more complicated than before. Managing the two financing options separately and taking care of overlapping patients can seem quite a task. This defeats the whole purpose of decreasing the administrative load on the providers and other RCM medical billing issues. On the other hand, it can lead to a significant rise in administrative costs for the organizations to afford.
Outsourcing RCM Medical Billing Partners
Leading RCM medical billing partners can help you sort out the administrative mess and at the same time keep your cash flow in order. You do not need to invest in a separate team for each type of patient accounts with outsourcing options. Experienced professionals at these companies already have proven repeatable models of work that they will use to help you scale your financial performance without compromising patient satisfaction.
Schedule a free consultation today to analyze your current finances and prepare a road map for the future.
We hope this blog helped you know the pros and cons of a non-recourse financing plan in the current healthcare industry. For further queries, please comment down below. We will get back to you soon. Do not forget to subscribe to our blog and our social media handles for more such updates on healthcare, medical billing, technology, and management.