In 2023, 12 hospitals in the U.S. filed for bankruptcy, an all-time high, and more than the previous three years combined. With stubbornly-high staffing and supply costs, 2024 is not expected to be much better. As a result, providers of all sizes are looking across the entire scope of their operations for new ways to cut costs without sacrificing the quality of patient care. They are also counting on patients to pay their bills in a timely fashion as those patients take on a larger share of their healthcare costs.
In this environment, one area ripe for improved efficiency at many providers are the patient collection processes in Revenue Cycle Management. Using digital billing, payment and engagement tools, providers can streamline the patient financial experience and gain substantial advantages by way of faster payment cycles, reduced staffing requirements, lower collection costs and higher patient satisfaction.
Below are examples of the type of cost reductions and operational efficiencies being gained by Flywire clients as a result of modernizing their Revenue Cycle Management processes. The stats provide a small glimpse of their stories.
1. Reduce bad debt
- 20% reduction, approximately $10M - LifeBridge Health
- 26% reduction in early-out collection placements; 58% reduction in average patient payment plan length - Munson Healthcare
- Reduction in bad debt write-offs from 24% to 17% of balance after insurance (BAI) - Forrester Total Economic Impact Study
2. Reduce the cost to collect
- 56% - Kaweah Delta Health
- 33% - St. Luke’s University Health Network
- 33% reduction in staff-assisted collections - United Health Services
3. Reduce staffing and operational costs
- $1.0M in annual spending - Munson Healthcare
- 8,000 staff hours in 12 months - Penn Highlands Healthcare
- 35% decrease in statement/postage costs - Edward Elmhurst Health
- 30% reduction in staff involvement - Forrester Total Economic Impact Study
4. Drive faster, higher rate of patient collections
- 10.7M in pre-service payments in first 4 months; $1.5M in monthly payment plan revenue - Banner Health
- $5.8M yield improvement in 12 months - Penn Highlands Healthcare
- $2.8M YoY increase in collections - Edward Elmhurst Health
- Increase of 29% on average - Forrester Total Economic Impact Study
5. Increase in self-service payments
- 100% increase - United Health Services
- 91% of all patient payments - Edward Elmhurst Health
- 89% of post-service payments - Banner Health
- 78% of all patient payments - Penn Highlands Healthcare