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- The Patient Accounts and Support Services team has been working to optimize the patient bill-paying experience.
- The initiative improved the MyChart bill-paying system and consolidated the patient billing team.
- Using patient feedback, the team continues to plan and make improvements to the bill-paying process.
As UW Medicine actively pursues its mission to improve the health of the public, this work includes not only the crucial jobs performed to help our patients, but also the technical aspects that keep our bottom line healthy.
However, one of these technical aspects needed refinement — the patient bill-paying system.
The patient bill-paying system is an important aspect of the patient experience, as it allows them to see and understand their medical bills, talk to a member of the patient billing team and make payments to their account. When the system isn’t optimized, it can cause confusion and frustration from the patient perspective.
Because of this, the Patient Accounts and Support Services team at UW Medicine made it a priority to improve the process.
A pain point in the bill-paying system
From the start of this initiative, Larry Blythe, the director of Patient Accounts and Support Services, says his team worked to eliminate a common complaint: A single patient getting multiple statements, which led them to call multiple departments and make multiple payments for the same service. Even simple bills for routine office visits could create confusion for patients.
“From the customer service standpoint, we hoped to address the issue of a patient’s confusion in knowing who to call when they are looking to discuss their bill,” says Blythe.
Part of the impacted patient experience stemmed from inconsistent customer service standards between teams and varying escalation pathways.
“Patients would receive different answers from different teams and not know which was the correct answer,” says Blythe.
The team collected patient feedback to better understand why patients were having this experience. Blythe says that the Patient Accounts and Support Services Department participated in patient focus groups to seek feedback as they introduced new tools, like bill pay.
Improvements to the bill-paying process for patients
In March 2021, Blythe’s team launched a project which leveraged the Single Business Office Platform with Epic to create one team for all patient billing. This means that now there is only one UW Medicine customer service team for patient billing, whereas previously there were multiple.
In addition, Blythe highlights the inclusion of a single-patient statement per guarantor — the person accepting financial responsibility for the bill. This is a one-call resolution for patients — as opposed to having to call two or three customer service teams, which creates a single point of accountability for patient inquiry and resolution to questions.
“We also expanded and optimized MyChart, specifically the billing module,” says Blythe. “This allowed patients to see their accounts, make payments in real-time, request payment arrangements and automate payments for those payment arrangements, apply for financial assistance, and communicate with the Patient Accounts and Support Services team through MyChart messaging.”
Successes from the Patient Accounts and Support Services Department
Blythe notes that most noticeably, improved customer service has been one of the most impactful changes for patients.
“Specifically, the financial assistance application via MyChart, and improved efficiencies around payment processing and applying payments to patients’ accounts have been a success,” says Blythe.
Another success for the department includes reduced hold times for patient-related billing calls and a single standard for service level — now more than 80% of all calls are answered within 30 seconds.
There’s now also a single team responsible for processing payments and refunds, which Blythe says processed $138 million in their first year.
The future of patient bill-paying
First, Blythe says the department hopes to go green — move to paperless statements as our standard for every patient.
Next, they’d like to tackle autopay for patient visits. Blythe says he wants patients to be able to pay at the time of their service or toward any patient responsibility, after insurance amounts, deductibles and coinsurance amounts, while also keeping the financial assistance conversation as far forward in our patient visit processes.
The department also hopes to address billing notifications, which will allow patients to receive a link when new balances are available in MyChart for simple access and payment options.
Finally, Blythe and his team are looking toward technology that will allow a live chat experience in MyChart with a specialized billing representative.
In the end, the Patient Accounts and Support Services team has done crucial behind-the-scenes work to ensure patients have an incredible experience from start to finish — and to know there is more on the horizon. Blythe emphasizes the important contributions of this amazing team and their leaders, saying, “They are constantly looking at ways to improve the patient financial experience and we ultimately want this experience to be as great as the healthcare they receive.”
