What if healthcare payments were simple? What would it look like if payers could quickly disburse payments, providers could receive all their payments and data efficiently, and members could receive payments seamlessly? What if the healthcare payments experience looked more like an Amazon transaction?
When I talk to health payers and providers, they’re all looking for strategies to deliver payments seamlessly and efficiently. The reality is that the entire healthcare industry wastes a lot of time each year managing payments in outdated systems. According to a survey sponsored by Zelis, 67% of payer respondents agreed that reliance on outdated legacy systems inhibits efficiency. A staggering 74% said it increases their risk exposure for regulatory fines and penalties.
This begs the question: How can we overcome these known obstacles and modernize payments? How can we transition from outdated payment systems to platforms that leverage digital innovations used by other industries?
It’s like working on a laptop that’s a decade old. Can you still power it on? Maybe (and that’s a big maybe!), but it’s going to take you longer to power up and even longer to get work done. The entire process will be sluggish. You’ll be exposed to greater risks because it doesn’t have the latest security software enabled and likely won’t have an updated operating system installed. It will make your job harder. Now, what happens when you switch to the latest model? You gain access to the latest innovations and efficiencies.
We all know there are a lot more complexities to healthcare payments than this example offers, but you get the idea. Outdated payments solutions that spread across multiple vendors increase inefficiencies and risks that impact providers. This ultimately cascades down the payment lifecycle and adversely affects members as well.
Modernizing a tech stack within any organization is no easy feat. There are a few ways health plans can shed legacy systems and implement modern payments solutions.
Preparing for the future
Adopting a unified system that consolidates your payments infrastructure into a single, integrated platform is key to this. Centralizing all payments is a critical means to ensuring payments and communications are timely and accurate, and that’s pivotal to building trust among both providers and members.
Health plans have endless opportunities to deliver breakthrough efficiencies across payments and communications operations that influence better business practices for providers and improve the member experience. Whether that’s leveraging ACH, virtual credit cards or paper checks, omni-channel technology provides quick and easy adjustments to payment processes and caters to the preferences of providers.
Straight through processing (STP) is a great example of the benefits of embracing new technology, and it’s gaining a lot of popularity in the dental space. If you’re not familiar, STP automates and streamlines payment transactions to minimize manual intervention and saves providers two to three minutes per virtual credit card claim payment. When you add that up, it makes a huge difference!
The time is now
Consider this a call to action. A better healthcare experience is before us, and a vital step to getting there is modernizing healthcare payments and embracing the latest tech innovations.
That old laptop will continue causing you more frustration until you finally get a new one – probably after losing valuable work and shedding a few tears. Your payments platform is the same way.
Integrating new technology is not easy. As an industry, payers, providers and technology solution experts must work together to deliver payments efficiently. Managing all payments and communications in one intelligent hub is key to helping us accomplish that goal. It unlocks efficiencies, ensures compliance, and delivers the modern and customized payments experience that providers need and members demand.
Zelis has a team dedicated to walk you through this at a pace that works for your unique business. Zelis Advanced Payments Platform is the first integrated payments platform of its kind and is supported by an entire partner ecosystem and integrations, including with Apple Wallet, Rectangle Health, Google and Zelle. Learn how ZAPP can help you accelerate healthcare payments modernization here.
