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Health Care Loans to the Rescue: How to Save Declining Volumes, Patient Satisfaction, and Revenues

Written by Jessica Toney | Oct 25, 2019 5:16:09 PM

As a healthcare provider, your margins depend on the patients who come through your doors. Indeed, a 2019 survey of US hospitals and health system leaders found that 30% of those surveyed consider flat or declining inpatient volumes as putting the greatest pressure on revenues.

Reductions in patient volume stem from multiple factors, two of which being the increasingly competitive landscape of the medical industry and changes in the healthcare business model.

But that’s not all.

Patient satisfaction is more important than ever in 2019. And if you aren’t performing in this category, your patient volumes will take the hit. To learn more about how the patient experience contributes to your revenue cycle and how health care loans can help, keep reading.

How Patient Satisfaction Affects Your Volumes

In today’s value-based care climate, Medicare reimbursements depend on H-Caps patient satisfaction scores. Yet that’s not the only reason patient satisfaction is tied to your revenue cycle.

A recent Medical Group Management Association report found that failing to meet patient demands about financial processes leads to poor patient retention.

That’s because when you fail to meet a patient’s financial needs, they’re less likely to return to your establishment. What’s more, they’re less likely to refer their family, friends, and co-workers in the future.

Health Care Loans to Improve Patient Satisfaction

The decline in patient satisfaction and the rise in patient financial responsibility are intimately connected. Why? Because some experts suggest the biggest obstacles to a positive patient experience are:

  • Lack of transparency about prices
  • Patient inability to pay

Are you struggling to retain patients because you don’t offer alternative ways to pay? Epic River’s patient lending program was created to solve this problem with a loan program connecting patients in need with our partner banks. Contact us today to learn how health care loans can boost your patient satisfaction scores and get your revenues back on track.