Thousands of working adults do not have health insurance, and those that do, have poor coverage. When this occurs, patients require financial assistance for their procedures. Patient financing is available to help patients when they need to pay for healthcare.
Why Patients Need Support
Many situations arise and force patients to get financial assistance for medical treatments and procedures. A few reasons are listed down below.
Poor Insurance Coverage
Sometimes, people have good health insurance but opt for less coverage since they are healthy. That is fine until a surprise emergency procedure/diagnosis pops up, and then the insurance policy may not have the necessary coverage.
Situations like that often happen, causing patients to receive bills they cannot pay. Financial assistance becomes an option because people need help finding resources to support them.
Bad Personal Care Tactics
Emergency procedures pop up when people tend to skip regular check-ups. They do not take care of themselves, making it more common for them to have health issues. Financial assistance is often necessary because it catches them off-guard when these health risks occur.
Difficulty Paying
Then, when these procedures surprise people, it is typical that they will need to go to new healthcare providers. If your medical practice is out of their network, that also increases the cost of their medical care and makes paying difficult. Patients might have no choice but to go to your practice if you are the only one that offers their procedure.
Tips To Help Your Patients Pay For Medical Bills
If your patients have no money or need assistance to pay for their medical care, there are ways you can help them.
- Educate Patients On Their Options
An easy way to help your patients find payment options is to educate them on how they can pay their bills.
Patients often do not know their payment options when they cannot pay and need assistance. That is where most of their issues stem from because they get an unforeseen bill and have no idea what to do.
Taking out a medical loan or applying for financial assistance is scary but will seem doable when you explain the process to them. Your office can educate people on their payment options and give them hope about what they can do.
Different lending options are available to patients, but many do not know them. Various lending options will help patients get the care they need, such as:
- Medical/Personal loans
- Payment Plans
- Government Programs
- Charity Support Programs
- Crowdfunding
All these options are readily available to your patients, but they need to learn about them to utilize them. Once they learn about the resources, they are great for your patients that do not have money and need assistance.
Helping your patients learn about their payment options is a great way to provide quality care.
- Offer Payment Options
The easiest and best way to aid your patients when they need assistance is to offer different payment options. Multiple options, from loans to payment plans, can allow them to pay off their care later as they make more money.
Loans are the most common way for people to get the money they need for their unforeseen medical bills. Financial lenders are constantly on standby, ready to lend people money for anything they need.
Medical loans are popular, and practices can partner with lenders to help patients get the care they need. Once a patient receives a loan, they can use it for any procedure they need, ranging from $5,000 to $100,000. Loans are a familiar option that many patients take advantage of using.
Payment plans are a newer form of lending that is becoming more popular with patients. Different financing companies are willing to partner with your practice, allowing you to finance your patients risk-free.
When you offer patient payment plans, they usually offer more favorable terms. Payment plans are good for patients that do not have money and need some time to pay off their procedure. Customize these plans for your patients and help them get medical procedures while they pay over time conveniently.
Offering patient financing allows patients to pay their bills when they have money again without burdening themselves.
- Negotiate With Them
Another option you have when your patients cannot pay is to negotiate the price of their procedure.
Patient financing does not work for everyone, but sometimes they can afford the procedure if it is cheaper. Possibly a new idea for you, negotiating with patients is a good option if there is any way to lower the price.
You can start the negotiation process by creating a breakdown of the entire procedure. If there is anything that is not necessary, you can explain that to patients and let them decide. That way, they can choose what they will pay for and the care they will receive.
Also, if you are willing to lower your pricing, you can do so throughout the negotiation process. How much you negotiate is up to you, but it all depends on how much you need to cover your operating costs.
- Promote Preemptive Care
Another resource you can offer patients is encouraging and promoting more preemptive care to them.
When patients receive regular check-ups, some random medical procedures might be avoidable. That will not entirely avoid any risk, but it can potentially catch a small problem before it gets worse.
One way you can do this is by giving free check-ups. Appointments can range from every six months to once a year, where you provide quality physicals and health checks.
If anything comes up during these check-ups, you can provide them with information about care and financial help moving forward. That way, they know their options before they have to pay and get the procedure done.
Offer Financing To Your Patients
You can offer payment plans to all your patients when you start using Denefits!
Denefits is a payment solution that offers more financing flexibility to all your patients, regardless of their financial situation. Using Denefits for payment plans, no credit checks are necessary for approval. That means every single patient will receive the financial assistance they need for their procedure.
While everyone receives financing, It also helps you with other aspects of running your practice. It will assist with:
- Accounts receivable
- Payment processing
- API integration
You get all these services for free while you provide quality healthcare for your patients. With Denefits, you can integrate the services and offer medical patient financing to everyone.
