Discover how to create a complete patient payment experience from insurance to final billing to help optimize your practice’s revenue today!
RCM Doesn’t End When Insurance Pays
Revenue cycle management (RCM) companies typically focus on submitting insurance claims, handling denials, processing payer reimbursement, and overseeing insurance A/R. However, once patient responsibility is determined, a vital part of the revenue cycle still remains.
Patients need a clear understanding of what they owe, with timely billing communication from their healthcare provider. They expect accurate answers to billing questions. They also seek access to convenient payment methods and the ability to discuss payment arrangements when they are unable to pay the full balance at once.
These elements of the revenue cycle are critical and provide RCM companies with the opportunity to deliver more comprehensive value to healthcare clients. They help create a cohesive connection from insurance reimbursement through final payment, improving the overall patient payment experience.
What Is the Patient Payment Experience?
The patient payment experience encompasses any interaction that relates to understanding, paying, and managing financial responsibility, such as:
- Pre-visit communication
- Digital communication
- Mailed bills
- In-office and online payments
- Payment reminders
- Payment plans
- Financing
- Two-way messaging
- Collections
These interactions should work together and never feel like isolated transactions. As patients take on a greater share of healthcare costs, friction in the financial journey can directly impact collections, system efficiency, and access to medical care.
In a recent survey, 41% of healthcare providers cited improving the patient financial experience as a top strategic priority, up from 19% in 2025. This shift reflects a growing recognition that the patient payment experience is no longer separate from overall financial performance.
Why the Patient Payment Experience Matters to RCM Companies
In 2026, patient financial responsibility has escalated to represent 25% to 30% of total medical practice revenue. It’s an enormous jump from 10% just 20 years ago. It’s a significant change that has forced healthcare providers to face significant challenges related to collecting outstanding balances directly from patients. This process differs drastically from the way they collect payments from insurance payers.
An RCM company can effectively manage claims and payer A/R while its clients still struggle with outstanding patient balances. Strengthening the patient side of the payment experience can help RCM companies expand their offerings, differentiate their services, accelerate payments, and deepen client relationships. Ultimately, getting the claim paid is only part of getting the provider paid.
Where Traditional Patient Payment Experiences Create Friction
Traditional patient payment processes can create friction at several points in the billing journey. Common challenges include:
- Financial information is received too late: Waiting until after a scheduled visit to discuss billing can delay payment, create unwelcome surprises, and frustrate patients.
- Billing communication relies on a single channel: Every patient is unique and has their own way of communicating with their healthcare provider. Offering a combination of mail, text, and email meets all patient preferences.
- Payment requires too many steps: Confusing instructions, complicated portals, and limited payment methods can cause unnecessary friction in the payment experience.
- Patients have limited options for larger balances: Flexible financing and payment plans can provide valuable ways to resolve larger balances.
- Billing questions are difficult to resolve: Unanswered questions can become a significant barrier to prompt payments.
How RCM Companies Can Build a More Complete Patient Payment Experience
Addressing these challenges requires a more proactive, patient-centered approach to the payment experience. RCM companies can help healthcare organizations reduce friction and improve payment outcomes by focusing on several key areas.
1. Start the Financial Conversation Earlier
When appropriate, it is helpful to let patients know their anticipated balances before their scheduled visit. This gives them the opportunity to ask questions, review their balance, make a payment, and explore financing options.
BillFlash PreBill lets healthcare practices request and collect patient payments by sending a secure payment link via text and/or email before a scheduled office or telehealth appointment. Patients can click the PreBill link to view pre-visit charges or copays. They can then pay through a secure online portal (PayWoot.com) before a formal bill or claim is even created.
2. Meet Patients Through Multiple Billing Channels
Every patient has unique communication habits, payment preferences, and levels of digital access. This is why practices need to provide convenient access to multiple billing channels. Combining conventional mailed statements with digital billing notifications gives patients the flexibility to engage through channels that work best for them.
For RCM companies, a multichannel approach can enhance payment rates. Doing so also improves patient engagement and reduces friction in the billing process. It can also help organizations reach more patients. This can be achieved regardless of their billing delivery preferences, which supports a more efficient and consistent revenue cycle. BillFlash offers the following solutions:
Mailed Bills
Paper statements help patients understand their financial responsibility. When they scan a QR code included on the bill, it directs them to the online portal (PayWoot.com), encouraging prompt payment.
eBill Notices
Electronic text messages or emails alert patients that a statement is ready to view and pay online. A secure link directs them to an online payment portal (PayWoot.com) to resolve any outstanding balances.
3. Make It Easy to Pay
In today’s complex healthcare environment, offering patients a variety of payment options and convenient payment channels is essential. To succeed, healthcare organizations must be able to process online, in-office, automatic, mobile, and stored payment methods quickly and efficiently, providing the flexibility and convenience patients expect.
Research indicates that 56% of patients have considered changing providers after a poor payment experience, and the rate is even higher (74%) for patients aged 18 to 26. This emphasizes the importance of reducing unnecessary steps between receiving a bill and completing payment to ensure a positive payment experience.
BillFlash offers the following automated solutions to enhance the payment experience, giving patients the flexibility to select an option that best meets their financial needs:
AutoPay
Patients can easily set up recurring payments, enabling automatic payment whenever a new bill is sent.
OfficePay
Providers can easily accept in-office, mailed, and phoned-in payments made by check, card, or mobile wallet (Apple Pay and Google Pay). Payment terminals can accept tap, swipe, and chip functions.
OnlinePay
Patients can make convenient payments via the online patient portal (PayWoot.com), using features such as AutoPay, PlanPay, and FlexPay, with payment options that include debit or credit cards, eCheck, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
StoredPay
Patients can securely save preferred payment methods for preauthorized future use, encouraging faster payments and simplifying future transactions.
By removing payment barriers and reducing friction in the payment experience, healthcare practices reduce administrative burden while increasing on-time payments.
4. Give Patients Flexible Ways to Manage Balances
Affordability can directly affect the payment experience. In a recent survey, 53% of respondents reported delaying medical treatment because of high out-of-pocket expenses. Approximately 76% of respondents said they would consider more services if they had a convenient way to pay for them.
Providers that offer payment plans and financing options for patients who need help with larger balances can improve patient care, increase revenue flow, and minimize collections.
BillFlash offers the following solutions to help patients manage outstanding balances, ensuring practices get paid faster:
PlanPay
Providers can offer automated payment plans that allow patients to spread large balances over time while supporting a more consistent revenue flow. Providers can create a smoother payment experience by setting specific terms. These terms may include minimum eligible balances, minimum monthly payment amounts, and maximum plan durations. This approach also helps in collecting payments more efficiently and predictably.
FlexPay
Patients can enroll in flexible financing options to pay their balance in monthly installments, ensuring providers get paid in full right away. The online application is quick and easy. There is no hard credit check, and 90% of patients get approved for 0% interest financing options.
By giving patients more flexibility in how they manage larger balances, practices can reduce affordability barriers while improving the likelihood of timely payment. The right payment options can create a better financial experience for patients. In turn, it helps providers maintain stronger, more predictable cash flow.
5. Keep the Conversation Going After the Bill
Automated reminders are a valuable, cost-effective way to follow up with patients and encourage them to quickly resolve unpaid balances. Research indicates that up to 62% of patients prefer receiving medical payment notifications through a combination of text and email channels. Approximately 50% of patients are more likely to make a payment after receiving a simple automated reminder.
BillFlash offers the following solutions to keep the conversation going:
PayReminders
A scheduled cadence of automated reminders sent via text and/or email notifies patients of outstanding balances. A secure link directs them to the online portal (PayWoot.com) to make a payment, and once payment is received in full, they are automatically removed from the workflow.
Payer Messages
The secure two-way messaging service allows patients to ask specific billing and payment questions directly on the online portal (PayWoot.com), enabling healthcare practices to respond quickly within the BillFlash account, while keeping transactions and inquiries all in one place.
Consistent follow-up and accessible communication can help prevent unpaid balances from being overlooked or delayed by unanswered questions. By combining automated reminders with secure two-way messaging, practices can keep patients engaged, remove payment barriers, and encourage faster resolution of outstanding balances.
6. Create a Clear Path for Unresolved Balances
Collections must be connected to the broader patient payment experience, rather than treating each interaction as a separate process. Providers must establish specific rules for identifying and escalating accounts while maintaining visibility and control.
Integrated collections are more important than ever, with more than 30-50% of outstanding patient balances requiring staff interaction to collect. BillFlash Integrated Collections Services assists providers in streamlining the collections process. It identifies accounts that meet provider-defined criteria and recommends them for collections, all within the same connected billing and payment platform. This integrated approach reduces the administrative burden and added costs that can come with managing a separate collection agency.
Professional recovery specialists work directly with patients using proven, respectful collection strategies designed to recover outstanding balances while preserving the patient relationship. When patients are unable to pay in full for valid reasons, specialists can discuss available options, including payment plans and financing, to help establish a manageable path toward payment.
Collected payments are deposited directly into the provider’s bank account through BillFlash Pay Services. Providers receive their funds first. This approach eliminates the need to wait for a third-party collection agency to deduct its fees and remit the remaining balance. As a result, it helps create a faster and more consistent revenue recovery process.
The Problem With a Fragmented Payment Experience
RCM companies can create a fragmented payment experience by relying on separate vendors for digital billing, statements, payments, financing, and collections, which can lead to:
- Multiple contracts and logins
- Separate reporting systems
- Multiple support contacts
- Duplicate data entry
- Disconnected workflows
- Inconsistent patient experiences
Vendor fragmentation can become increasingly difficult for RCM companies to manage across multiple clients, leading to a significant breakdown in the patient payment experience.
RCM Companies Don’t Have to Build Every Capability Themselves
Expanding the patient payment experience doesn’t always involve developing communication, billing, payment, financing, and collections technology internally. Partnering with an established technology provider, such as BillFlash, can help RCM companies:
- Bring innovative solutions to clients faster
- Reduce development demands
- Expand capabilities
- Remain focused on their core RCM expertise
Building an in-house billing and payment solution has its advantages, but so does partnering with an established platform. The decision ultimately comes down to balancing cost, control, and time-to-market. Healthcare practices need to evaluate the benefits of creating their own in-house billing and payment infrastructure. Alternatively, they should consider the option of integrating with an established ecosystem like BillFlash.
Create a Connected Patient Payment Experience With BillFlash
BillFlash is a highly regarded technology partner for RCM companies. We look to strengthen the patient side of the revenue cycle through:
- Pre-visit communication
- Patient billing
- Electronic and mailed statements
- Payments
- Automated reminders
- Convenient payment plans
- Flexible financing
- Two-way communication
- Collections
BillFlash integrates seamlessly with over 100 EHR and practice management systems. This integration enables RCM companies to expand the solutions they offer while maintaining strong client relationships.
The revenue cycle should not stop once insurance has processed the claim. Instead, it should provide a clear and concise path from patient responsibility to payment.
Help Your Clients Get Paid Faster
The patient payment experience is a vital extension of revenue cycle management. RCM companies that connect modern patient billing and payment capabilities with payer-side expertise can deliver more comprehensive value to their healthcare clients.
Schedule a demo with BillFlash to learn how our billing, payment, financing, and collection software can help your RCM company simplify patient financial workflows, expand its capabilities, and help your clients get paid faster.