Let’s begin with a distant image of patient payment collection so you can understand what is happening behind the scenes. So, your practice financially sounds good on paper. You are seeing patients, giving them excellent care, and filing flawless claims. Your bank account, however, presents a different picture.
The issue? Your cash flow is hampered and you are forced to rely on credit lines in order to make payroll because it takes more than sixty days to collect patient payments. You are not by yourself, according to research, 70% of providers take more than 30 days and 74% of providers take more than a month to collect patient payments. Meanwhile, practices can only anticipate collecting 50–70% of the balance following a patient visit, and healthcare providers typically send 3.3 billing statements prior to receiving payment.
A major financial crisis results from this slow patient payment collection cycle i.e.
- bills mount,
- employees spend endless hours pursuing payments,
- and patients become harder to contact as balances deteriorate.
However, there is still hope. Practices that are putting strategic collection improvements into practice are increasing their collection rates while cutting their collection time in half, from sixty days to thirty days or less. This is precisely how they’re doing it.
Why Patient Payments Are So Expensive and Take So Long
Learn the underlying causes of your 60-day collection nightmare before putting solutions in place.
The Increasing Cost of Patient Care
Due to growing deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, patients now cover almost 30% of their own medical expenses. Your revenue cycle is completely changed when you switch from insurance-paid to patient-paid. After receiving medical care, insured patients’ collection rates range from 50 to 70%, whereas uninsured patients’ rates fall to just 10%.
Outdated Techniques for Gathering
Many practices still rely on check payments that take days to process. Phone calls made during business hours when patients are unable to answer, and paper statements that are mailed weeks after visits. These techniques are from a different era.
Absence of Direct Communication
64% of patients do not receive accurate upfront estimates, despite 96% of patients wanting them, and 14% claim their estimates were inaccurate. This misunderstanding causes billing disputes, late payments, and patient discontent, all of which prolong the time it takes to collect money.
The “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” Issue
It gets much more difficult to collect once patients leave your office. When they receive your statement along with other bills, their priorities change, and making the payment becomes something they’ll “get to eventually.”
Strategy 1: Receive Payment at the Time of Service
Eliminating the collection cycle completely by collecting when patients are physically present is the most efficient way to speed up collections.
Here’s how to put this into action:
Verify Financial Responsibility Upfront:
First, check what the patient owes before their appointment. Pull real-time info on their insurance and benefits so you know exactly what they need to pay. The right tools will give you a detailed breakdown without much hassle.
Communicate Costs Clearly:
Make sure your front desk team knows how to have these conversations in a straightforward, kind way. For example: “Your estimated cost today is $150.
Offer Multiple Payment Plans:
Give people options. Take credit and debit cards, mobile pay like Apple Pay or Google Pay, and digital wallets. Offices that offer more ways to pay collect a lot more money at check-in (sometimes 20-30% more). When practices collect payment at the time of service, they see a big drop in accounts receivable, cash flow improves, and staff spend way less time chasing down bills after the visit.
Strategy 2: Make Patients Pay Online
Don’t wait until someone’s already in your office to talk money. Set up online prepayment during registration or early check-in.
Here’s how it goes:
Before their appointment, send patients a secure payment link. Show them what they owe based on up-to-date insurance info, so there are no surprises. Let them pay right then and there, using whatever digital payment method works for them. If they have questions, answer them before they even walk through the door.
The tech part’s simple:
Use patient portals that connect with your EHR and practice management tools. These portals need to make it easy, clear bills (no weird codes), live chat or FAQs for questions, and options for auto-pay if they come in regularly.
What does this change?
Payments come in faster. Fewer mistakes. Patients know what they’re paying for before they get care, and you don’t have to chase them down after. Practices using these kinds of online portals get paid 32% faster and deal with 20% fewer billing calls. It just works better for everyone.
Also Read: The Hidden Cost Trap: Why In-House Billing Isn’t Really Cheaper
Strategy 3: Automate Payment Reminders
Most of the time, patients don’t ignore their bills, they just forget to pay. Automated reminders can seriously improve collection rates, and the best part? Your staff doesn’t have to pick up any extra work.
Here’s what works:
Use different channels. Text messages reach younger patients, emails with quick payment links get the job done fast, phone calls work best for big balances, and patient portal notifications cover everyone else.
Timing matters:
Send the first reminder three days after the visit, with a payment link right there. If nothing comes in, send a second reminder at 15 days. Still unpaid? Try again at 25 days, but make it sound a bit more urgent. After 40 days, send a final message offering payment plan options.
Personalize each reminder:
Use the patient’s name, show the exact amount owed, include the due date, and make it super easy to pay with one click. Automated reminders aren’t just convenient, they get results. On-time payments jump by 45-60%. One practice even brought in $3.8 million more just by using automated texts and a smarter collections process.
Strategy 4: Offer Flexible Payment Plans
Big medical bills can stop people in their tracks. But when you break those costs into smaller, monthly payments, patients are way more likely to pay them off.
Here’s how to do it right:
Match the plan to the patient’s situation. For bills under $1,000, go with a 3-6 month plan. Larger balances? Stretch it out to 6-12 months. If you can, don’t charge interest, people are more willing to sign up if they don’t feel like they’re getting punished for needing help.
Keep signing up simple:
Let patients enroll online, right in their portal. Set up automatic payments so no one has to remember due dates. And be upfront, tell folks exactly how much they’ll pay each month, when the money comes out, and what the total will be.
What happens when you do this?
More patients can actually pay their bills. Your collections go up. You write off fewer unpaid debts. And maybe the best part, patients feel less stress and stay on good terms with your office.
Strategy 5: Give Patients Clear, Accurate Cost Estimates
Upfront When people know what they’ll owe, there’s less confusion, fewer surprises, and payments happen faster.
How to Create Effective Estimates:
Use real-time data. Rely on tools that check up-to-date insurance info, past billing, payer rates, and actual procedure costs. This way, your estimates stay accurate.
Share estimates early:
Don’t make people wait, give them the numbers when they book the appointment, confirm them before the visit, and walk through them again at check-in.
Keep it simple:
Break down the total cost, show what insurance covers, point out what the patient needs to pay, and list out each service. Skip the medical jargon and codes, just use plain language.
Why it matters:
When pricing is clear, patients trust you more. They can plan for expenses, you’ll see fewer billing disputes, payments come in faster, and people are more likely to stick with your practice.
Strategy 6: Train Staff on Financial Conversations
Your front desk team actually sets the tone when it comes to payments. With the right training, those awkward money talks just become another part of good service.
Here’s what to focus on:
Empathetic Communication: Show your team how to talk about costs in a way that feels caring. Payments should feel like a normal part of helping patients, not just another bill to pay.
Clear Scripting:
Give staff exact words to use when they explain copays, deductibles, estimates, payment plans, or overdue balances. No guessing, no stumbling.
Empowerment:
Let your team solve billing issues on the spot. If they can offer payment plans or negotiate dates without always running to a supervisor, everyone’s happier.
Performance Incentives:
When your team meets or beats collection goals, reward them. Bonuses, shout-outs, little perks, these go a long way. One real example? A clinic in Texas bumped point-of-service payments up by 25% after teaching their team that “payments are part of care, not just a transaction.” When staff gets it, patients get it too.
Strategy 7: Connect Your Technology Systems
When your systems don’t talk to each other, everything slows down. But link them together, and suddenly things move a lot faster.
Why bother?
Well, integration gives your staff a single dashboard where they can check copays, see what’s still owed, review payment history, and check insurance, all right at check-in.
No more flipping between screens:
You get automated workflows, too. Book an appointment, and the system instantly checks eligibility, fills in cost estimates, and even gets pre-payment started, no manual steps needed.
Information just flows:
From scheduling, through every clinical encounter, straight to billing, no double entry, no mistakes, no holdups.
Bottom line:
Integrated systems can cut your payment collection time by up to 40%. They also cut down on billing calls, lighten the load for staff, and make things smoother for patients. Plus, your cash flow picks up speed.
Strategy 8: Use Real-Time Eligibility Verification
Old insurance info leads to billing mistakes and slows down payments. Real-time checks fix this right away.
How to do it:
- Set up automatic verification.
- Link directly to payer systems for instant coverage checks.
- Double-check deductibles, copays, and coverage limits when you schedule the appointment, then verify everything again at check-in to catch any changes.
What to check:
- Make sure the patient’s coverage is active.
- Confirm how much the patient needs to pay, things like deductibles and copays.
- See what services are covered, spot any exclusions, and check if you need prior authorization.
- Also, look for any other insurance that needs to coordinate benefits.
What you get:
When you’ve got accurate, up-to-date eligibility info, you avoid denied claims from bad insurance data. Patients aren’t blindsided by unexpected costs. Claims process faster, and you don’t end up waiting forever to get paid.
Strategy 9: Standardize Your Billing Process
When your billing isn’t consistent, it just leads to confusion, mistakes, and slower payments. But if you standardize things, you make collections quicker and keep everyone on the same page.
Here’s how you do it:
Start with billing templates. Use the same invoice and statement format every time, so patients actually know what they’re looking at.
Lay out your policies, clearly:
Spell out when you send statements, what the payment terms are, when payments are due, what happens if someone pays late, and how you handle collections.
Don’t hide your policies:
Put up signs at the front desk showing which payment methods you take, when payments are due, and whether you offer payment plans. Make sure everyone’s trained the same way. It doesn’t matter what shift someone works or which location they’re in, very staff member should use the same process with every patient. That’s how you keep things running smoothly.
Strategy 10: Follow Up Strategically on Overdue Accounts
No matter how careful you are, some accounts just slip through the cracks. The trick is to follow up early and smart, catch those late payments before they turn into losses.
Here’s how you do it:
Start Simple:
For the first month, send out automated reminders. Not everyone checks their inbox right away, so once you hit days 31 to 45, pick up the phone. Let your billing team call and talk it through. If that doesn’t work, and you hit days 46 to 60, it’s time to get creative, offer a payment plan.
Show people you’re willing to work with them:
After 60 days, you’re running out of options. Now you have to think about sending the account to collections or looking into financial assistance if the patient qualifies. Don’t forget the human side of all this. Most folks aren’t ignoring you; they’re probably struggling.
Stay compassionate:
Offer flexible options, point them toward financial counseling, or see if they’re eligible for any assistance programs before you get tough.
Keep good notes, too:
Track every message, every call, every promise to pay, and every reason a bill goes unpaid. You’ll need that info. And if someone just goes completely silent (no response after several tries) it’s time to move forward. Start the formal collections process, but keep it professional and stick to the rules.
Strategy 11: Use Data Analytics for Continuous Improvement
Focus on what really counts. Data doesn’t lie, it shows you exactly where your collection process works and where it stumbles. Here’s what to keep an eye on:
Average Days to Payment:
This is your main goal. Keep it at 30 days or less. Collection Rate. Out of everything you bill, how much do you actually collect? Shoot for 95% or higher.
Point-of-Service Collection Rate:
What percentage do you collect right at the appointment? You want at least 50%. Payment Plan Adoption Rate. How many patients sign up for payment plans when you offer them? Bad Debt Write-Off Percentage. This number should drop as your collections get better.
Don’t just track these numbers, use them:
Check your metrics every month. Spot the patterns. See what’s working, call out what’s not, and make changes that actually move the needle. Then measure the results. Rinse and repeat. That’s how you get better, month after month.
Also Read: From Rejection to Reimbursements: The 72 Hours Rule That’s Transforming
The RBS Innovators LLC Advantage
Trying to handle these strategies on your own? It eats up time, needs real expertise, and demands both tech and constant attention. Most practices just don’t have the resources to juggle all eleven strategies and see real results. That’s where RBS Innovators LLC steps in and actually makes a difference. Here’s what we bring to the table with our Patient Payment Solutions:
- We use smart tech, automated reminders, online payment options, real-time eligibility checks, and billing systems that all work together. No extra hassle for you; it’s part of our service.
- We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all. We build collection strategies around your practice, who your patients are, what insurance you deal with, and whatever’s holding you back right now.
- Your staff? We train them, too. We make sure your team feels confident and comfortable talking with patients about payments. And we never just set things up and walk away.
- We keep an eye on your collection numbers and tweak our approach to get you the best results, month after month.
What does all this add up to?
- You get paid faster, collections average 28 to 32 days, not the 60+ days you might be used to.
- Patients pay at the time of service way more often, 45-60%, compared to the 20-30% most practices see.
- Overall, you collect more (92-96% of your money, instead of just 70-80%). And you barely have to write off bad debt (less than 3%), while others write off as much as 8-12%.
So, if you’re ready for results that actually move the needle, that’s what we deliver.
Take Action Now!
Don’t wait any longer, every day your collections drag out, you lose money. Think about it, if you let payments sit for 30 days, that’s a whole month’s revenue stuck in limbo.
Check out our free Patient Payment Analysis: With RBS Innovators LLC, you’ll see exactly where your collections slow down, spot the roadblocks, and find out how much cash you can actually recover. We’ll lay out a plan that fits your practice and show you what you can gain with our help.