Improving Patient Payment Collections is a High Priority for Nearly Three-fourths of Providers, New Study Finds

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Apr 25, 2023, 07:11 ET

Providers prioritize accelerating cash flow, excellent customer service, and flexible patient payment options for patient payment systems, according to study from Sphere and CWH Advisors

MELVILLE, N.Y., April 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly three-fourths (68%) of providers believe that improving patient payment collections is a high priority, according to a new study from Sphere, a leading provider of end-to-end integrated healthcare payments and security software.

The study, conducted by management consulting firm CWH Advisors on behalf of Sphere, discovered that 71% of providers ranked accelerating cash flow as a top-three priority when selecting patient payment solutions. The next-most important priorities for providers were excellent customer service both for patients and staff (68%) and flexible payment options for patients (50%).

As providers resume normal patient collections protocols after nearly three years of disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic, they now face staffing shortages and turnover. The study revealed that to overcome these challenges, providers have a renewed focus on deploying third-party technology to provide a more "retail-like" payment experience for patients.

"We believe that the study highlighted an important trend of offering greater payment choices and flexibility. This trend will pave the industry roadmap in the next 5 years," commented Henri Cattier, Partner at CWH Advisors.

To increase patient payment experiences, providers are adopting technology to make payments easier for patients by introducing:

Text-based messaging with the ability to make payments via mobile devices
Kiosks at the point of service
Credit card processing at point of service and Card on File
Patient engagement platforms to improve their "digital-front-end" experience, including check-in and payment capabilities.

"Providers want better solutions for patient payments that help them collect more cash earlier in the payment cycle, with the need accelerated due to staffing challenges," said Anthony Lucatuorto, Chief Executive Officer, Sphere, Powered by TrustCommerce. "Today, only a small percentage of providers can easily quantify how they are improving patient collections. To achieve their financial goals, providers must ensure their patient engagement platforms improve the digital-front-end experience and include flexible payment options, including digital wallets and payment plans."

To learn more about the Sphere and CWH Advisors study, please contact us at www.spherecommerce.com/contact.

Methodology

The study is based on nearly 40 interviews conducted with executives at health systems, hospitals, or large single/multi-specialty medical groups in November and December 2022. All respondents have line or management responsibility for patient payments.

About Sphere
Sphere is a cloud-based, vertically integrated software and payments technology company serving a variety of complex end markets with an established market leading presence in the healthcare, transportation, Ecommerce, and non-profit sectors. Sphere was formed in 2017 after a few strategic acquisitions, and today offers products and solutions to their partners and customers through Sphere's TrustCommerce®, Health iPASS and Qgiv platforms.

Sphere delivers product and solutions that are trusted by more than a third of the 100 largest health systems in the US and thousands of independent medical providers across the country to facilitate and drive secure payments by having Sphere's software solutions highly integrated into clients' workflows, patient billing systems, and electronic health records. Our integrated software and payments solutions help organizations increase payment collection while delivering industry-leading security and compliance instruments, and a single payment stack standardized for reporting and reconciliation. Sphere also provides fundraising software solutions and tools to 8,000 nonprofits in the US and Canada and maintains key integrations in high growth verticals like insurance, parking, and transportation.

Sphere is a Waud Capital Partners private equity portfolio company, that is an innovative team comprised of payments, healthcare, and technology experts with a mission to capitalize on the acceleration and digital transformation of a fully integrated payment and software experience for our clients.

About CWH
CWH Advisors is a healthcare advisory firm that offers guidance and direction to help healthcare organizations at inflection points navigate their next phase by providing expertise and bandwidth. We're better because we are experienced operators. We're believable because of our depth of healthcare knowledge. We promise our clients to treat their business as if it's our own. For more information, please visit us at www.cwhadvisors.com.

Media Contact:
Michelle Ronan Noteboom
Amendola Communications
[email protected]

SOURCE Sphere