Oct. 16 webinar: Your first look at our 2019 revenue cycle benchmarks
Key findings
Overall, 2019 patient access data showed strong performance, with a significant improvement in point-of-service collections. In 2017, an organization performing at the median percentile collected 0.8% of its net patient revenue at the point of service. In 2019, a median organization collects 1.0%. Furthermore, top performers demonstrated significant gains as well, collecting a record-breaking 3.4% of their net patient revenue at point of service.
As a research team, we're encouraged to see the gains in this important metric. With the continued rise of high-deductible health plans, collecting at point of service has never been more critical for bad debt management. In fact, our 2018 research on the patient financial journey demonstrated that patients who pay a portion of their obligation at point of service are twice as likely to pay their bill after care.
Finally, 2019 benchmarking data also indicated a strong improvement in price transparency, with 65% of respondents offering pre-service price estimates customized to their patients' insurance.
While this number marks a strong improvement on a traditionally opaque topic, organizations should continue their efforts to provide every non-emergency patient with a price estimate before care. Considering our 2018 research demonstrated that patients who receive a price estimate are more likely to pay their full bill, further gains in price transparency only stand to benefit both provider and patient.