Best Practices When Offering Patient Payment Plans

Collecting full payments from patients is crucial to the financial health of your practice. Offering payment plans for medical bills improves your chances of receiving payment for patient care. Follow these best practices to see better results.

Be proactive

Taking a proactive approach to patient payment plans increases your chances of getting paid. Provide key information about each plan and how to enroll by:

• Discussing payment plans with patients during check-in.
• Sharing the patient’s cost estimate for the plan.
• Posting plan details on your website.
• Distributing pamphlets in your office.

Give patients options

Grant your patients flexibility with payment plans for medical bills. Patients can choose payment terms, such as minimal amount due and term length, for their budget and schedule, so they’re more likely to make payments.

Care Now, Pay Later^SM (CNPL^®) from Rectangle Health helps you offer this flexibility to patients without financially risking your practice. You’ll receive funding upfront, and patients will make installed payments to a patient financing company.

Accept modern payment methods

Providing several payment options makes paying more convenient. Your practice can also store patients’ payment information for automatic payment processing. Modern methods include online and mobile payments, so consider adding Apple Pay, text-to-pay, QR codes, and other contactless payment options.

Have documented rules

Providers must document their agreement contract with information on upfront payments, minimum payments, and term lengths. Establishing the terms makes it easier for your practice and patients to adopt payment plans and protects your facility from defaulted or missed payments.

Communicate effectively

Patients are more likely to communicate with you through their preferred method. Have your patients choose to receive letters, phone calls, texts, or emails.

Include helpful features

Offer convenient features to help patients remember to make payments. Patients will appreciate the reminder, and your practice will get the payments it needs for your revenue cycle. Avoid missed payments with features like:

• Card on file (CoF): Card-on-file services let patients save their card information in the database. CoF offers several advantages, like saving time while preventing late payments.
• Contactless payments: Contactless payment options eliminate handing over a physical card or cash. This method provides ease of use, security, and flexibility.
• Scheduled payments: Let patients schedule payments for a convenient day and time.

Learn how Care Now, Pay Later can ease the financial strain

Offer financial flexibility that benefits your patients and practice using Rectangle Health’s CNPL program. Our solution ensures practices receive nearly full payment for their prime patients. Contact us today to learn more.

* The Care Now, Pay Later program provides nearly 100% approval. Applicants determined to be in Open Bankruptcy, Fraud Alert or on the Terrorist Watch List during the application process will be declined. Patients covered by government payor programs for a procedure are not eligible for financing of that procedure. Government payer programs include Medicare, Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the Department of Defense TRICARE and TRICARE for Life programs (DOD TRICARE), the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) program, and the Indian Health Service (IHS) program.

References:

1. Marvin, B. (2013, July 2). 5 best practices for using payment plans to ensure patient payments. Healthcare Business Management Association. https://www.hbma.org/news/public-news/n_5-best-practices-for-using-payment-plans-to-ensure-patient-payments
2. Rivet Health. (2021, February 17). Developing best practices for patient payment plans. Rivet Health. https://www.rivethealth.com/blog/developing-best-practices-for-patient-payment-plans

Rectangle Health

Rectangle Health, a leading healthcare technology company, empowers medical, dental, and specialty practices with seamless and secure technology to drive revenue by increasing patient payments and streamlining practice management and payment processing. Since 1993, the company’s innovative solutions have reduced administrative burden and rebalanced the ledger for its thousands of healthcare providers in the U.S., reliably processing billions of dollars in payments annually.

Rectangle Health focuses on keeping practices financially healthy so they can prioritize care. The company’s flagship product, Practice Management Bridge®, interfaces with all existing practice management systems. This innovative platform includes features like contactless capabilities, customizable messages, online payments, patient financing, and Text to Pay that digitize payments and engagement for ease.

Headquartered in Valhalla, New York, Rectangle Health has been repeatedly named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies.