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BillingTree Healthcare Survey Reveals Top Challenges, Benefits of Technology

BillingTree, an ACA International member company, recently released the findings of its second annual Healthcare Operations and Technology Survey showing the impact of technology adoption in the industry, trends in patient payments and new challenges.

The report found a dramatic increase in the number of providers offering an interactive voice response (IVR) payment option for patients, up from 7 percent to 50 percent last year, according to a news release from BillingTree. Additionally, practices accepting patient responsibility payments via web portals increased from 67 percent to 75 percent.

The latest Healthcare Operations and Technology Survey was conducted over a one-month period in the last quarter of 2017 and now provides a healthcare industry benchmark. It found the biggest challenges facing providers were a patient’s inability to pay, collecting payments after leaving the facility, a lack of payment channels, compliance, and issues related to insurance billing.

Factors impacting a healthcare provider’s choice of payment provider included financial reporting and HIPAA compliance as the top two priorities. Compliance and integration were consistent with the previous survey results; the premium placed on reporting reflected a new trend.

Looking to the future, technology adoption continues to remain a key focus. Over the next 12 months, 63 percent of respondents plan to implement a patient payment portal – an increase of more than 40 percent compared to the previous year’s findings.

“Having collected healthcare industry data for two consecutive years, we can see significant trends starting to emerge. One key development is the priority placed on technology adoption,” Dave Yohe, BillingTree’s vice president of marketing said in the news release. “SMS and mobile payment offerings, like statements using QR Codes for fast mobile access to payment forms, are two emerging technologies also trending in the healthcare industry.”

-From ACA International