Every industry is now shifting to digital payments. Especially with the increased use of eCommerce stores and online shopping, consumers are now at easy when paying from their digital wallets. Almost half of the buyers online are paying from some type of digital wallet or bank connected account that automatically pays from a credit card or debit card.
Digital payments is cheaper
It is an open truth that managing financial matters manually makes it costlier than automated processed. In a doctor’s office if there are staff managing finances, prepare bills and demand reimbursement through conventional ways then it adds up administrative cost and manual payments are time-consuming. On the other hand, if the system automates the payment process when every stakeholder is notified through electronic systems to pay their part of the payment then it is not only quicker but also more cost-effective. In the current system, physicians can ask patients to pay the copays or other deductibles by using their digital wallet.
Ease of use
Adopting digital payments is beneficial for providers in various ways. Healthcare providers can boost their revenue and improve the patient experience by digitizing their payment system. Providers can integrate the payment system into patent portals, can send payment reminders and can expedite the process of patient payments by facilitating them at the comfort of their homes.
Transparent billing
Most of the patients are not sure of their billing liabilities and surprise billing is another phenomenon when patients are not expecting to pay their payments. Adoption of digital wallets in healthcare would help to collect payments at the point of care and would make it more transparent for patients, physicians, and healthcare billing services providers
Manual billing is inefficient and one day has to be replaced with digital payments. At the same time, their glitches in the manual payment system and is difficult to track the status. However, if digital payment gateways become a part of EHR systems or the other practice management tools used by the providers then tracking payment status would become easier and practices can easily forecast their revenue projections.
A shift to smart technologies
As smartphones are dominating the consumer markets, more and more patients now want to pay their medical bills by using digital wallets. According to a survey, ‘payments to providers through a health plan’s website increased 88% last year and payments from an online patient portal increased 121%.’
One major benefit of digital payment is that it would bring transparency to the healthcare system. Both payers and consumers can easily trace the status of payment and would make it easier for providers to demand payments.
Healthcare is one of those industries that are carefully adopting only those technologies that have proven successful in other industries. Digital payments have long been in use of other industries, although healthcare is slower to adopt it is making its way faster due to its viability and usefulness.
Healthcare billing services are shifting to a digital system then why not the payment options. Today, almost all the practices submit their payment claims electronically because it is a requirement by HIPAA. When billing and coding are electronic, preparation of payment claims is also electronic then there must be ways to get paid through digital payment processors. Electronic transactions would make it easier to understand AR reports split into monthly and quarterly sections.
Improved patient experience
Digital payments are the futures and when they offer ease of use at the same time consumers feel more comfortable. In healthcare, digital payments would improve user experience and would result in more satisfied patients. Paying digital is more transparent and it is easier to track the history of the payments. As all other industries are rapidly shifting to digital payments, healthcare should also devise ways to adapt it and make it mainstream. It would not only make cash flow smoother rather it would bring in the better consumer experience.
However, there is a bright future of digital payments in healthcare but physicians should also be ready for the risks it involves. Healthcare is already in turmoil with hacks and leaks of important data. Data breaches have taken healthcare by storm and physicians are more concerned to protect the data. Digital data is easier to hack than by stealing paper-based documents. The same can be a problem if physicians start archiving the financial information of the patients then a probable leak cause big problems for the providers. Security of the digital wallets would be a big challenge for physicians and providers and they have to take extreme precautions to safeguard the financial information.