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Patient Loan Programs: Top 4 Questions You Should Ask Your Healthcare Loans Provider

Written by Jessica Toney | Sep 27, 2019 7:19:30 PM

35% of US small and mid-sized practices plan to outsource revenue cycle management operations. And that’s no surprise when choosing vendors for processes like patient lending can offer you some major benefits.

For example, medical loans for patients can help you strengthen the patient experience, cut back on clerical duties, and even up your margins through improved patient debt collection efforts.

But not all patient loan vendors are created equal. And taking advantage of all those benefits means you need to choose the right technology partner.

That’s why we’ve compiled this list of questions for your prospective health care loans vendor. Keep reading for the top 4 questions you should ask before signing the agreement to make sure you’re getting the patient loan program that’s right for your practice.

1. What Are Your Qualifications?

Before you start discussing terms with your prospective loan program vendor, the first thing you should do is request customer reviews and success stories. A reputable company should be able to offer you at least one positive customer experience. If your new vendor can’t, think twice about agreeing to partner with them.

2. How’s the User Experience?

The ease or difficulty of using your new health care loan system will determine how long it takes to train your staff. Your new loan program is supposed to save you money—not set you back. Ask for a demo of the product before deploying it to assure the user experience fits well with your practice.

3. Do You Maintain Updates?

With billing regulations and technology constantly changing, software updates are vital to keeping your revenue cycle healthy. Most vendors take care of updates for you, which reduces the time and money it would take to do it yourself.

Your contract should detail how much support you’ll get from your vendor. This is especially important if your practice doesn’t have an in-house IT team.

4. What Systems do You Integrate With?

If you have an EHR in place, make sure your new health care loan program integrates with the technology you’re already using. It can be a headache for practices that choose an IT vendor, only to realize the new product won’t connect with your pre-existing system. Save time and money by asking this question before you sign the agreement.

Choosing the Right Health Care Loans Vendor

While these may be our top 4 questions to ask your prospective vendor, this list certainly isn’t exhaustive.

The process of choosing the right medical loan vendor will be different based on your unique needs. So make sure to set a list of goals both you and your vendor can agree on before you make the ultimate decision.

Searching for a patient loan program from a vendor you can trust? Epic River’s health care loans help connect your patients with our partner loan providers. Get in touch with us today to find out how we can partner together.