Your organization can expect a 4-8% increase in revenues above your market baseline, if you excel at customer experience, according to Bain & Company. That is why patient communications are the heart of the A/R story.

Research proves that the way you communicate with your patients is directly correlated to your A/R collection ratio. Simply enough, effective patient communication results in improved patient experience, and, in turn, improved patient experience translates to an improved collection ratio.

So, where do you start if you want to improve your patient communications? Our advice is to begin with a list describing all the instances – we’ll call them “touchpoints” – when you communicate with your patient.

Our advice is to focus on overall excellence in customer experience, at all levels and touchpoints, not just when it’s about collecting A/R.

In the chart below, notice that only one touchpoint refers to the actual A/R collection. The other touchpoints are going to influence the patient’s overall experience.

Improved patient experience → Improved collection ratio

For example, with customer experience touchpoints as the focus, simple strategic tactics like engaging patients on their preferred channel are important. So is the right balance with respect to the frequency of follow-ups. If the patient senses aggression on your part, the campaign is likely to backfire and be a turn-off. Finding the right recipe between channel, message content and frequency is crucial for a positive outcome.

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Instance Who communicates
with the patient		 Score Action plan for improvement
Appointment/Scheduling Admin/Back Office 4/5 Offer more choices
Billing System 3/5 Launch a self-service portal
Collection System 3/5 Implement monthly payment plans

Top 4 A/R Tips to Improve Patient Communications

  • 1

    Approach the customer through text and emails, rather than calls and paper statements.

  • 2

    Implement easy payment systems (aka click-to-pay).
    What matters here is simplicity and ease of access, so it needs to be designed in such a way that patients can use it from their smartphones.

  • 3

    Offer incentives and flexible payment plans.
    For example, a monthly payment plan managed through the payment system or their patient account can work wonders on your A/R collection ratio.

  • 4

    Invest in easy-to-understand bills.
    Reduce billing questions and improve your patient’s customer experience.

Interested in learning how Abella can help manage and solve your aging collection issues to help your DSO or dental practice collect more past-due balances? Abella offers a complete A/R collection automation solution featuring seamless integration with major practice management systems and communication tools for multi-channel, high-volume use cases.

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