May 10, 2013 •Brian Watson
Full disclosure: I work for a statement processing company.
And as an “industry-type” it’s easy for me to get excited about the latest and greatest patient statement design bells and whistles – variable messaging, TransPromo, full color graphics and imagery, that sort of stuff.
But I’m also a patient. And so I understand first-hand that when I receive a statement in the mail, all I’m really looking for are quick answers to key questions: What do I owe? Why do I owe it? How do I pay? And – if I can’t quickly answer those questions – who do I contact?
The ability of your statements to quickly answer those questions is one of the best measures of its overall effectiveness.
So think like a patient. Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine you know nothing about healthcare billing. Or haven’t the foggiest about what statement design tricks qualify a bill as best-practice.
Okay. Now look at your statement. And be honest: does it quickly answer those 4 simple questions? Can you scan even the most transaction-heavy document and glean enough info to pay your hypothetical bill?
Because if you can do that, you’re well on your way to a best-practice statement.
And if you can’t? Well you might want to check out the rest of this blog post for 15 smart statement design tips.
What Do I Owe? When is it due?
Statements that are clear and payment-focused help you collect the funds you need to run your practice.
To make that happen, your patients need to have an unmistakable understanding of what they owe and when it’s due.
And while amount owed and due date might seem like a no-brainer for a billing statement, presentation counts. You want to make it as easy as possible for patients to understand – and take action on – their bill.
• Use Simple, Consistent Terminology – “Service Amount Due From Patient” is a mouthful. Worse yet, it’s ambiguous. So are terms like “Patient Responsibility” or “Co-pay Due”. Use simple, clear-language amount due terms - like “What You Owe” or “Your Balance Due” instead. And keep it consistent from bill-to-bill or in different sections of the same statement.
• Use Highlight Color – Too much highlight color can muddy the appearance of your statements and mute overall effectiveness. That’s exactly why it should be reserved for the most important on-bill information – like balance due. Go big and bold by emphasizing what’s owed, and by when with attention-grabbing colors.
• Repeat Yourself – Use repetition of payment info – on the stub, in the billing description, in a call-out transaction summary, or wherever else on your statement is an appropriate fit.
• Provide a Transaction Summary. Studies show that people prefer to process information in “bite-sized” chunks. Transaction summaries cover key statement details – previous balance, new charges, what the patient’s paid, what insurance has paid, and what they owe – line-by-line, so patients can determine what they’ve paid and what they owe in a glance.
Why am I Being Asked to Pay?
It’s a simple question. And it should be simple for you to answer.
Should being the operative word. Because healthcare billing is rarely confined to a here’s what you received, so here’s what you need to pay scenario.
Instead, there are hurdles a-plenty.
Payment responsibility can be complicated. There’s insurance, Medicare and Medicaid (and the negotiated discounts or plan coverage amounts that determine the benefits that they cover); the co-pays that your patients have already paid; and the deductible and co-insurance information that determines what they actually owe.
Add in the tendency of billers to lean heavily on ultra-confusing treatment jargon - instead of simple, plain-language cost summaries – and it’s easy to see why patients often struggle to determine what they’re being charged and why.
When information is complex, complicated, or ultra-confusing it pays to embrace simplicity.
• Use Plain Language. Avoid technical jargon and billing industry-speak. For most patients “CA 27.29 (15-3) BMPImmuoessay for Tumor Antigen” doesn’t communicate any actual information. So use plain-English charge language like “lab services” or “doctor visit”.
• Consider a glossary or FAQ. Sure, it’s an extra page or two included with your statement. And that adds to your statement print and mail overhead. But consider the alterative: pricy service calls to your business office, or the balance sheet carnage that comes from late- or non-payment.
• Integrate Payor EoB Information. Using actual EoB information – negotiated discount, coverage amount, co-insurance, and deductible amount/status – helps ensure that your patients won’t have to hunt down their insurance statement before making a payment.
• Roll-Up Encounters. Because the treatment experience often extends beyond the initial doctor visit, a single patient statement can contain info for several visits. Encounter roll-ups can help summarize messy transaction details into simple line-item summaries – what was charged, what was paid and what the patient still owes.
How Do I Pay?
Okay, so this question typically doesn’t have the capacity to generate tension in the patient/provider relationship like the two we just covered. After all, payment stubs generally account for somewhere between a quarter and a third of the first page of most statements. Kind of hard to miss that.
But it can be thornier if you’re just not that into paper checks or don’t happen to have a stamp handy – both entirely reasonable in today’s increasingly digital world.
Or if – like me – you’ve got terrible penmanship and find it challenging to write legibly in those apparently industry-standard, tiny-tiny credit card payment forms.
The best way to answer this question is with a resounding list of options. Offer alternate channels (and plenty of ‘em). And make them easy to find on the statement and for patients to access. I recommend shooting for:
• A Large, Clean Payment Stub. Despite the emergence of new payment channels, nearly half of all patients still pay their bill by paper check (according to Intuit Health’s 2011 Health Care Check-Up Survey). And many others will use the credit card form on your stub to remit payment. A large, clean, perforated payment stub ensures that patients have room to legibly write-in payment details and can easily fit the tear-away portion in your return envelope.
• Communicate Your Channels. If nearly half of patients remit payment via paper checks, that means another 50% are using alternate channels. Make it easy for those patients to pay by clearly marking your alternate channels – phone, web and in-person – with call-out boxes and attention-grabbing graphics.
• Make it Easy for Patients to Go Online. Online payment has obvious benefits. It’s fast and less error-prone, for starters. Help patients get to your web channel by printing access elements on your statements - like QR codes that can be scanned with a mobile phone or a personal URL and password that enables patients to log-on and make a payment from a single web screen.
• Provide Info About Your Financial Resources. Unlike payment channel questions, financial assistance issues can’t be neatly solved by statement design alone. But it can help get the discussion rolling. Whether it’s through duplex printing on the reverse of your statements, or by including an extra page – introducing your financial policies on the initial statement is a smart way to reach out to patients with ability-to-pay concerns.
Who Do I Contact with Questions?
No matter how carefully considered, well designed, or simple-and-effective your statements might be, patients will inevitably have billing questions to ask you.
And – let’s be honest – that’s going to be frustrating for patients. It’s time that could be better served doing, well, almost anything else.
But what’s worse - and can easily elevate that minor annoyance to a state of real anger – is if it’s a chore to find out who to contact with that question.
Think of your patients’ peace-of-mind. Make it really easy for them to contact you with billing questions.
• Be Clear. Contact information should only trail balance due details in on-statement importance and frequency. Feature all your options - local, 1-800 and email contact information - in several key spots on your billing.
• Offer Help in Spanish. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Spanish is spoken at home by almost 37 million people over the age of five. Make sure their questions are being addressed by providing language-appropriate instructions to your Spanish help channels.
• Offer an FAQ. Providing a brief patient financial FAQ or glossary of commonly-used terms can help head-off statement issues. Another smart option: consider establishing an online billing center that provides in-depth help and discussion of your financial assistance programs.