Electronic Bill Payment
Generating patient billing each month is expensive and slowly eats into profits as printing and mailing costs continue to rise. As well, carrying any amount of patient receivables on the balance sheet also impacts profitability. As receivables age, they discount in value and lead to write off. Reducing the potential for a patient to become a receivable has a exponential impact on the bottom line and protects your margins from creeping debt losses.
Every medical office ultimately generates some measure of patient billing at the end of the month hoping patients will eventually mail in a check or pay on their next visit. This billing process poses the best opportunity for increasing patient payments, cash flow, and ultimately reducing write offs.
Offering convenient alternative electronic ways for patients to make payments on their bill will increase cash flow and reduce receivables. Allowing patients to pay their bill online via web or by touchtone telephone (IVR) not only increases the flow of payments, but reduces the office work involved in opening mail and making bank deposits. Electronic payments also create an exact accounting of who paid, when, and how it was paid which reduces office expense as well.
The monthly billing generated by the medical office contains instructions to the patient to pay by online via the Internet or by touchtone telephone (IVR) using their credit card, check/debit card, or checkbook (ACH).
These electronic bill payments, regardless of source or type, all appear in real time in the OHS Merchant Control Panel reporting system. At the end of the day, the medical office runs a report of all payments received during the day at the front desk or from customers who made payment on their accounts online or by phone.
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