What Can Healthcare Providers Learn From Amazon's 1-Click Payments?

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If you’re one of Amazon’s 40 million consumers, you’ve probably taken advantage of their ability to store your payment on file for repeat purchases. How often have you thought, wow, I’m so glad I didn’t have to dig out my credit card. What if your patients thought the same about paying their medical bills? One of the greatest feats for online shoppers everywhere is being able to make a purchase online with just a click of a button. If you feel the same way, you’re not the only one. Nearly 80% of patients making payments to doctors or hospitals would prefer to do so through a one-click method with their health provider. For retailers, this is a great tool for expected recurring/repeat visitors.

We’ve all heard it before. As patient private pay rates increase, the healthcare industry has become more and more like the retail industry.

What if you could apply the same principles of online retailers to your patient payments? Think about how often patients would pay their bills on time if your practice already had their payment info on file.

According to PYMNTS, 27% of consumer payments come from a mobile device. What if 27% of your patients had the option to pay their bills online from their phones? This rate is bound to increase as more providers offer the convenience of online bill pay.

Patients are becoming healthcare consumers. Private pay rates are increasing and patients are now more likely to “shop around”. Linkedin tells us that 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated. Part of that customer service should be making patient payments easy.

[endif]--Just like in retail, getting your payments fast is as important for your practice as it is convenient for your patients. 1 in 5 consumers say that the online shopping checkout process is too long, and a quarter of consumers will abandon their online cart if they feel the website navigation is too complicated. According to a report from McKinsey, approximately 17% of consumers have unpaid healthcare bills as a result of confusion in the payment process, and 18% of consumers say they are willing to pay their bills by credit card if the online option is provided. Don’t let your patients abandon their healthcare bills because of an inefficient payment system!

So what’s stopping your practice from using credit cards on file for online payments? By looking at your practice through the eyes of a retail business, you could be getting paid faster and more efficiently. Having your patient’s payment information on file can dramatically decrease the amount of time it takes for your practice to receive payment