Fixing your billing experience doesn't require a complete overhaul. Discover solutions to improve your collections and patient satisfaction.
Billing in healthcare isn't just back-office busywork anymore—it's become a critical part of the patient experience. Unclear or frustrating billing can cause patients to seek care elsewhere. If your billing feels slow, confusing, or outdated, it could be costing you revenue and patient loyalty. With nearly 40% of patients finding medical bills confusing, and 38% of Americans delaying care due to cost concerns, your billing process has a direct effect on patient satisfaction and your bottom line.
The good news is that fixing your billing experience doesn't require a complete overhaul—just smarter tools and processes. Today, we'll discuss how you can streamline your billing, boost collections, and improve patient satisfaction with proven solutions that can increase your collections by up to 60%.
5 Signs Your Billing Experience Is Broken
The warning signs are everywhere, but many practices miss them until it's too late. So, how do you know if your billing experience is working against you? Here are 5 signs that it needs immediate attention:
1. Patients Delay or Avoid Payments Due to Confusion
Despite the No Surprises Act, 1 in 5 Americans reported receiving unexpected medical bills. Unexpected medical bills lead to confused patients, which often results in a lower likelihood of payment. When bills are unclear, patients may not understand what they owe, why they owe it, and how to pay it.
What makes bills confusing? A few common reasons include:
- Insurance adjustments are shown without explanation
- Bundled charges that show as single line items
- No clear instructions on how to pay the balance due
The result? Delayed payments can turn into bad debt, as patients often avoid paying altogether instead of reaching out for clarification.
2. Staff Spend Hours on Manual Reminders and Follow-Ups
Physicians spend nearly 16 hours per week on billing-related tasks. If your team is manually calling patients, sending individual reminders, or tracking down payments, that's valuable time away from patient care and practice growth. Automating reminders (via email and/or text) frees staff to focus on patient care instead of manual busywork.
3. In-Office Payments Are Inconsistent or Inconvenient
Relying on patients to pay after the visit doesn't always turn out positively. Nearly 30% of patients leave a practice without paying immediately after their visit. Once they've left, they're 50% less likely to pay at all. Still, patient payment preferences are becoming more varied. A 2023 survey found that nearly 29% used an online portal to pay, whereas 36% paid in person. This means practices need flexible payment options to capture both groups.
If you're not offering easy in-office payment options (for example, credit card terminals or contactless payments), you're missing out on on-time revenue. 25% of consumers have even ended a transaction for a medical bill because they couldn't pay with a credit or debit card. This means your payment infrastructure directly impacts your billing experience and collection rates.
4. You're Still Relying Heavily on Mailed Bills Without Digital Support
Digital notifications should complement mailed statements, not replace them entirely. A U.S. Bank Healthcare Payments Insight Report showed the use of mailed statements fell 16% between 2020 and 2021, while automated calls (+10%), text message reminders (+8%), and online portals (+9%) all grew. Practices that only send paper bills are missing out. The most effective practices use paper bills for detailed statements and digital reminders for timely follow-ups. If your practice only sends paper bills, patients may miss your statement or pay late because they didn't see it in time.
5. Collections Take 30+ Days—Or Worse, Never Happen
Slow billing hurts cash flow. Nearly 80% of providers report it takes over a month to receive any patient payment, and each passing month makes collection more difficult. The industry standard benchmark for days in A/R is 30 days or less, but the average days in A/R is 45-50 days. If you're waiting a month or more for payments or writing off significant balances as bad debt, your billing experience needs some attention.
Why Fixing Your Billing Experience Matters More Than Ever
The stakes for getting billing right have never been higher. Here's why:
Impact on Patient Trust and Retention
While some providers may believe that billing and collection have little effect on the patient experience, billing problems can damage trust more quickly than almost any other issue. When patients feel blindsided by bills or frustrated by payment processes, they don't just leave bad reviews; many of them stop returning altogether. Over 60% of patients say they'd consider switching providers if dissatisfied with payment processes or surprise charges. In an era where patient loyalty is fragile, every billing interaction matters.
Slow or Missed Payments Strain Cash Flow
Medical practices lose billions in income each year due to inefficient billing processes. With operating margins already tight, can you afford to leave more money on the table? Faster, clearer billing directly improves cash flow and financial stability. Medical debt is already a problem, and unpaid balances can easily fall into this category if billing lacks clarity and timeliness.
Patient Responsibility Is Rising
With the growth of high-deductible health plans, patients are responsible for more out-of-pocket costs than ever. In 2023, 41.7% of adults under 65 with private insurance had a high-deductible plan, and the median deductible for these plans was about $2,750. When patients pay thousands out of pocket, unclear billing can cause sticker shock. If your billing process isn't helping patients understand and pay their portion, it can reduce access to care and affect your revenue.
Digital Expectations Create a Competitive Disadvantage
Healthcare is already digital in many areas, and patients now expect digital options for billing as well. 85% of patients prefer e-billing and online payment options. Practices that rely solely on paper or phone billing may appear outdated. As explored in one study, digital payment portals are “snapping at the heels“ of traditional payment methods. To remain competitive, your practice must offer easy online and mobile payment and communication options.
A broken billing experience costs money (missed or lost payments) and goodwill (frustrated patients). It also adds overhead, since staff will work harder to manage manual processes. Fixing your billing experience pays off in many ways: patients trust you more and stay longer, revenue comes in faster and is more predictable, and your staff can focus on care.
How to Fix It Fast With BillFlash
The quickest path to a better billing experience is to adopt smarter, integrated tools. BillFlash offers an all-in-one billing, payment, and collections platform tailored for small healthcare practices. Here's how BillFlash's solutions address each of the pain points above:
PreBill – Set Expectations Early
Surprise bills are a leading cause of patient stress. BillFlash PreBill lets you send patients a pre-visit estimate or statement before they arrive. Through a secure link sent via text or email, you can share the expected payment amount in advance through an online payment portal such as PayWoot. This transparency reduces sticker shock and ensures they see exactly what they owe.
89% of patients say getting their bill amount in advance would make payment easier. With PreBill, patients can even pay the amount before the appointment. Collecting upfront not only improves payment flow, but pre-visit payments also reduce no-show rates and help practices fill appointment times. By handling much of the payment process digitally, PreBill makes billing easier for patients and faster for your practice.
eBill + PayReminders – Keep Patients Informed and Payments Flowing
Don't fully rely on hand-mailing every statement. BillFlash eBills can email or text statements instantly, reminding patients the moment bills are generated. These eBills also include a secure link for online payment. Practices that pair eBill Notices with traditional mailed bills see significant results: the average days-to-payment can fall from about 20 days down to just 9 days. In other words, notifying patients electronically increases payment by over 50% and improves the billing experience.
BillFlash's PayReminders take it further by automating follow-ups. In your BillFlash portal, you can set rules and send up to three reminder messages (via text and email) on a schedule each month (e.g., 7, 14, and 21 days after the statement is sent). Each patient is automatically removed from the reminder sequence once payment is received. This “set-it-and-forget-it” approach means staff no longer spend hours making calls or creating additional statements. It also keeps payments on track because automated reminders help build a sense of urgency without making patients uncomfortable.
Pay – Accept Payments Anywhere
Providing patients with options is essential to enhancing their billing experience. BillFlash Pay lets you accept payments online, on mobile devices, in the office, or by phone. For instance, patients can pay bills 24/7 through a secure web portal (PayWoot.com) using credit/debit cards or digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay). In the office, patients can swipe or tap cards for instant processing. Recurring payment options (StoredPay, AutoPay, or PlanPay for installment plans) ensure timely collection. Best of all, you maintain flexibility. You can keep your existing merchant account and use BillFlash's payment gateway, or let BillFlash provide a competitive-rate merchant account. This multi-channel approach aligns with patients’ preferred payment methods, ensuring no one misses a payment opportunity.
FlexPay – Offer Flexible Financing With Zero Risk
When patients can't pay a large balance all at once, offering financing can prevent lost revenue. BillFlash FlexPay is a no-fee, no-hard-credit-check financing option for patients. Since approximately one in four Americans can't afford a $400 emergency expense, flexible financing options are often necessary. With FlexPay, patients can apply online (it takes under a minute). Patients repay in installments, and the practice is paid up front in full, with no risk of future bad debt. This makes care more accessible for patients and improves your practice's cash flow.
Patient financing has been shown to increase willingness to pay for essential services, and with a 90% approval rate, FlexPay effectively addresses that need. It solves affordability for patients while guaranteeing your practice sees every dollar.
Collections – Keep Control of Past-Due Accounts
Even with the best efforts, some accounts will go unpaid. BillFlash lets you handle collections without losing control. Through Integrated Collections, you can automatically flag past-due accounts and approve them for collection. Since you remain in charge of which accounts get escalated, patient relationships are better managed throughout the process. BillFlash's professional Recovery Specialists work those accounts on your behalf (all within the same system), so you avoid the hassle of third-party agencies.
Recovered funds are deposited directly into your practice's account, and not held by an outside collector. This direct-payment model accelerates cash recovery and eliminates agency fees. In one of our case studies, a high-volume optometry practice increased its monthly collections by $10,000 to $15,000 during the initial months after switching to BillFlash Integrated Collections.
Inserts – Turn Bills Into Marketing Tools
When you do mail a statement, BillFlash offers the option to add inserts. Inserts are extra sheets, such as flyers, newsletters, or notices that can turn every mailing into an opportunity to educate or promote. For example, you might include a health newsletter, a reminder about flu shots, or details about the online payment portal. These inserts cost almost nothing to add and reinforce your message. With the postage already paid, you can convert your envelope into a cost-effective marketing channel using your most widely viewed communication. Whether promoting new services, sharing seasonal health information, or running special offers, inserts ensure that your message reaches a broad audience, maximizing the impact of each mailed statement. At a minimum, any billing insert provides another way to strengthen patient loyalty.
By bringing together tools such as PreBill, eBills via text and email, PayReminders, multi-channel payment options, FlexPay financing, Integrated Collections, and Inserts, BillFlash transforms a broken billing experience into a system that works for both practices and patients.
What Happens When You Fix the Billing Experience
When your practice improves its billing process with solutions like BillFlash, the results are clear:
Faster Payments
Electronic billing and reminders significantly speed up cash inflows. Practices using integrated billing solutions often report a reduction in their days in accounts receivable. That means more predictable cash flow and less financial stress. With statements landing directly in patients' mailboxes and inboxes and with quick online pay links, bills are handled almost immediately.
Reduced Staff Workload
Automation means less manual work. No more printing and mailing statements from your staff, making collection calls, or manually tracking payment status. Your staff can focus on patient care instead of payment collection. In other words, technology handles the chase, so your people don't have to.
Improved Patient Satisfaction and Loyalty
Patients appreciate transparency, choice, and convenience. When billing is clear and effortless, you will have more satisfied patients. More and more providers are realizing that giving patients clear cost estimates leads to better collections, and practices that adopt transparent billing build trust. Fixing billing removes the pain point of confusing bills, so patients feel more informed and cared for.
More Predictable Revenue
Fixing your billing experience creates predictable revenue patterns. You'll know exactly when payments will arrive, which accounts need attention, and how much revenue to expect each month. This predictability eliminates the financial stress that keeps many practices in the dark about their day-to-day revenue. Instead of wondering if you'll have enough to keep the doors open, you'll have confidence in your financial future.
The Fastest Way to Fix Your Billing Experience
Your practice doesn't need a costly, years-long overhaul to improve revenue cycle performance. Instead, adopting an integrated platform like BillFlash can resolve most billing pain points efficiently while keeping your core systems intact. With BillFlash, you gain faster payments, more efficient workflows, and happier patients. The result is a healthier bottom line and stronger patient relationships.
Ready to fix your billing experience fast? Schedule a demo with BillFlash today to discover how a smarter billing solution helps you receive payments sooner and encourages patient return.