In this episode of The Billing Blueprint Podcast, we explore how hybrid billing—combining digital and paper methods—can dramatically accelerate payments and improve customer satisfaction across healthcare practices.

They uncover surprising data showing that relying solely on either paper or electronic billing is costing organizations both time and money. Patients and customers want choice and convenience, not a one-size-fits-all approach. The hosts break down how integrating eBills, mailed statements, QR codes, and automated reminders can cut average payment times from 20 days to just 9—boosting cash flow while keeping every type of customer engaged.

From improving accessibility for older patients to reducing overhead and manual labor, Brad and Sarah explain why hybrid billing isn’t just a compromise—it’s the future of revenue cycle management (RCM). Tune in to learn how this blended approach is reshaping collections, satisfaction, and profitability in the digital age.

Transcript

Narrator: 00:00

Welcome to the Billing Blueprint Podcast, your go to resource for innovative medical billing solutions. Each episode we explore the latest industry trends and share proven strategies to help your practice streamline operations and get paid faster. Now here are your hosts, Brad and Sarah.

Sarah: 00:22

 All right, let's unpack this. We're diving deep today into the, well, surprisingly complex world of getting paid, specifically hybrid billing strategies. We're looking at how different organizations, you know, healthcare, dental, vision, even municipalities.

Brad: 00:39

 Right. How they can combine electronic and paper methods.

Sarah: 00:42

 Exactly. To maximize their collection rates, get that money in faster, and crucially, keep their customers happy.

Brad: 00:49

 That's right. And the mission here really is to challenge that old either choice, the one that's kind of plagued Revenue Cycle management or RCM for years.

Sarah: 01:00

 Rcm, that's the industry term for just making sure the money flows right?

Brad: 01:03

 Yeah, precisely. Making sure it flows smoothly. And, you know, our sources are telling us there's this tension. The modern digital expectation is like paying bills the same way you pay for Netflix.

Sarah: 01:12

 Super easy. Click, click. Done.

Brad: 01:13

 Exactly. But the reality is that ignoring traditional preferences, you know, someone wanting a paper statement, maybe paying by check, that's actually crippling cash flow for a lot of places.

Sarah: 01:23

 And what's fascinating and what really jumped out from the sources is that the failure isn't just about, like, annoying people or lost goodwill. It's a measurable financial drag.

Brad: 01:33

 Oh, absolutely. By putting in a system that intelligently combines paper and digital.

Sarah: 01:39

 The hybrid approach.

Brad: 01:40

 The hybrid approach, our sources show practices can cut their average payment time. Get this, from 20 days down to just nine days.

Sarah: 01:47

 Wow, that's more than half huge.

Brad: 01:50

 And when you realize that level of efficiency is possible, you really start to understand why the old one size fits all approach is just, well, it's failing.

Sarah: 01:59

 Okay, so let's start with this perception gap you mentioned, because it sounds pretty stunning. The providers, the ones actually trying to collect the money, seem to be way off base about how important the payment process is.

Brad: 02:10

 It's a huge disconnect. It's honestly shocking. But the data shows 39% of providers actually believe their billing methods have zero impact on patient satisfaction.

Sarah: 02:18

 Zero. Like none?

Brad: 02:20

 None. They seem to think, look, we gave good care. They'll pay us eventually. It's sort of secondary to them.

Sarah: 02:25

 But hang on. If the providers feel billing doesn't matter, what are the patients the customer is actually saying? This sounds like a different story.

Brad: 02:33

 Oh, it's a completely different story. Patients are saying they'll leave. We saw that 74%. 74 of millennial consumers, for instance, said they would switch providers specifically for a better payment experience.

Sarah: 02:45

 Just for the payment part, not the.

Brad: 02:47

 Care itself, not for the payment part. When you make that process inconvenient or confusing or just plain difficult, you risk losing the patient entirely. It doesn't matter how good the service was before that point.

Sarah: 02:59

 And this demand for flexibility is probably getting louder because, well, the stakes are getting higher. Right. Healthcare costs aren't exactly going down, exactly.

Brad: 03:07

 Not shrinking at all. Healthcare spending hit, what, $4.9 trillion in 2020?

Sarah: 03:11

 Three trillion.

Brad: 03:12

 And it's projected to grow another 8.2% this year. So when those costs rise, patients naturally become far more discerning. They look closely at the entire experience, and payment is a huge part of that. They want convenience, sure, but they also demand options.

Sarah: 03:28

 Yeah, you hear these big projections all the time about how everything's going digital. Global contactless payments hitting $10 trillion by 2027. Sounds like paper should be, you know, a museum piece by now.

Brad: 03:40

 It sounds like it should be, yeah. But it's stubbornly persistent.

Sarah: 03:43

 Right.

Brad: 03:43

 If you only look at those digital trends, you miss the, the foundational preference data. Despite that massive digital push, nearly a third of patients, 32%, still prefer getting their bills by mail.

Sarah: 03:57

 A third, that's significant.

Brad: 03:59

 And a solid 27% still prefer to pay by checking. So if you cling to just one method, digital or paper, you are immediately potentially alienating a huge chunk of your customer base.

Sarah: 04:10

 Okay, so let's dig into the specific pitfalls then. If you stay strictly on one side of this fence. Let's start with the modern choice, all digital. Why isn't just sending an email the perfect solution? It seems so efficient.

Brad: 04:21

 It sounds efficient, but it hits these immediate frustrating walls. Firstly, just visibility. It's a massive issue.

Sarah: 04:28

 Like people just don't see it.

Brad: 04:29

 Right. Electronic bills sent via email can easily get flagged as spam. Or they just disappear into this cluttered inbox that gets hundreds of messages a day. It just gets lost.

Sarah: 04:38

 Okay, so visibility is one thing, but maybe more importantly, who are we leaving behind if we go digital only?

Brad: 04:45

 And that, that really brings up the key issue. Accessibility. We're talking about maybe the 75 year old patient who might really struggle navigating a complex payment portal.

Sarah: 04:55

 Sure. Or. Or someone without easy Internet access.

Brad: 04:58

 Or the rural patient dealing with spotty, unreliable Internet. If they can't easily access or properly view the bill, well, they certainly can't pay it. And the data backs this up because 70% of patients still get their medical bills by Mail Today.

Sarah: 05:11

 70%. So digital only Just isn't the reality for most people yet.

Brad: 05:15

 Not the operational reality for the majority of the market. Not yet.

Sarah: 05:18

 Okay, let's flip it then. What about sticking to the traditional all paper model? That seems safer. Maybe, but I assume the drawbacks there are more financial and logistical.

Brad: 05:28

 Oh, it's a black hole for efficiency and frankly, profitability. Paper dramatically increases your day's sales. Outstanding. That's dso the time it takes to get paid. Mail delays alone can add days, even weeks.

Sarah: 05:41

 Especially with, you know, occasional disruptions we see with mail services.

Brad: 05:45

 Exactly. And then there are the rising overhead costs. Postage keeps going up. Printing supplies, paper, ink. Plus the staff labor involved in just printing, stuffing envelopes, mailing them out. It directly eats into your profit margins.

Sarah: 05:57

 And what about the risk of just losing the patient if they move? That seems like a big blind spot for paper.

Brad: 06:04

 It's a huge problem, especially now when people move more often, when patients move, those paper statements just vanish into the ether. The provider completely misses that billing opportunity. Lost revenue, completely lost. And furthermore, the reliance on manual processes is just profound across the whole revenue cycle. It's kind of astonishing, but 82% of providers still issue refunds via paper check refunds too. Yeah, that just shows how deeply entrenched these manual processes are slowing down. Not just collecting money, but every financial transaction. And this is precisely why the hybrid billing strategy isn't just like a nice to have option, it's becoming a necessity. It's not about choosing digital or paper, it's the. And it's about intelligently combining electronic billing, like secure text or email notices, with traditional paper statements. The whole goal is to make sure every single patient has an optimal, easy path to payment. No one falls through the cracks.

Sarah: 07:02

 And you need something to connect those two worlds. Right. A bridge. And our sources pointed to the QR code as being this sort of unsung hero here.

Brad: 07:10

 Precisely. That's the perfect term for it. Even a patient who's really hesitant about technology maybe doesn't want to log into a portal. Or they can usually just scan a QR code printed right on their physical statement with their smartphone.

Sarah: 07:20

 Almost everyone knows how to do that now.

Brad: 07:22

 Right. It bridges that gap, instantly links them straight to the secure online payment portal. So you get the comfort and familiarity of the physical statement, but you embed that easy digital pathway right there on the paper itself.

Sarah: 07:35

 Okay, let's make this real. The sources gave some great real world scenarios for how this multi channel delivery actually works. This is where you see the adaptability.

Brad: 07:45

 Yeah. These really illustrate it.

Sarah: 07:46

 Yeah.

Brad: 07:46

 So take the routine visit example, you've got Casey, maybe 25 years old, lives on her phone. She gets an email notification via text or email. Simple, super simple. Clicks the link, pays instantly using a stored credit card or digital wallet. Pure digital convenience, pure speed.

Sarah: 08:04

 Okay, but then you have the complex procedure example, maybe a bigger bill. Maybe the patient just ignores that first email or text. How? Happens all the time.

Brad: 08:12

 Right. So the hybrid system doesn't just stop there, it automatically follows up, it triggers sending a professionally printed paper statement.

Sarah: 08:19

 The physical touch point.

Brad: 08:20

 Exactly. Complete with a detailed explanation of the charges. Clarity is key. And that critical QR code. And if payment still doesn't happen after that physical reminder, there's another step. Yep. Automated pay reminders get triggered, sent via text or email. Just gentle nudges to keep the bill top of mind. But importantly, without requiring staff to manually make calls or send letters.

Sarah: 08:43

 That saves a lot of hassle. But the real magic I thought was in the traditional preference example. You have an older patient, maybe who specifically requests paper delivery, so he receives.

Brad: 08:54

 The paper bill just like he wants. But critically, it has that QR code on it. Ah, okay, so maybe he gets his grandson to scan the QR code to help him pay the first time he sees how simple and secure the link is. And suddenly maybe he transitions, he gets comfortable with it, perhaps even starts preferring electronic notifications for future bills.

Sarah: 09:12

 So it's a way to gently onboard people to digital, even if they start with paper.

Brad: 09:17

 Exactly. That's how you future proof your patient base and over time reduce your reliance on that expensive postage. And the results you can measure from this approach. I mean, that's what should really get business leaders excited. This isn't just about convenience. It ties directly to financial performance. Hard ROI metrics.

Sarah: 09:36

 You mentioned a huge potential savings figure earlier. Something like $166 billion across the industry. How does that actually happen day to day? Where does that saving come from?

Brad: 09:46

 It comes from massive efficiency gains and just reducing friction in the payment process. Think about it. Over half of patients say they'd pay bills faster if they were delivered via their preferred method.

Sarah: 09:57

 Makes sense. Meet them where they are, meet them.

Brad: 09:59

 Where they are, you get paid sooner. And automating the bulk of the billing process, taking out all that manual labor of printing, stuffing, tracking, that's what drives that huge industry wide saving potential.

Sarah: 10:10

 And we keep coming back to that speed metric, getting paid faster that 20 days, down to nine days.

Brad: 10:15

 It's the metric that really matters for cash flow, isn't it? Practices that combine those E bill notices with mail Bills, they typically see their average payment time just plummeted from 20 days down to nine.

Sarah: 10:27

 That's cutting your day sales outstanding, your DSO by more than half, by over 50%.

Brad: 10:33

 I mean, that is truly transformative for any business's cash flow.

Sarah: 10:36

 And beyond just speed, there's direct cost efficiency too, Right? Because you're not just blasting paper everywhere, it's targeted.

Brad: 10:42

 That's exactly right. You're reducing unnecessary material costs, unnecessary postage costs by only mailing to those who actually prefer it, or maybe those who didn't respond digitally. And outsourcing. This kind of sophisticated blended process also significantly cuts down on staff time spent on all that manual prep work.

Sarah: 11:01

 Frees them up for other things.

Brad: 11:02

 Frees up your valuable employees for higher value tasks. Absolutely.

Sarah: 11:05

 And let's not forget the patient side again, satisfaction, that seems harder to measure. Maybe, but still crucial.

Brad: 11:12

 It is crucial. And actually it is quantifiable. We saw data showing 42% of patients cite the choice of communication channel as the single most important factor in in their billing satisfaction.

Sarah: 11:24

 Just having the choice, just having the.

Brad: 11:26

 Choice matters that much. Giving them that control reduces frustration. It builds loyalty, and ultimately it helps ensure they return for future services. It improves the lifetime value of that patient relationship.

Sarah: 11:38

 Okay, so for organizations listening right now, maybe realizing their single channel approach is holding them back, how do they practically make this shift? How does a place stuck in just paper, or maybe just basic email even begin to navigate this?

Brad: 11:52

 Yeah, it can seem daunting. The first absolutely fundamental step is patient segmentation. You can't treat everyone the same. You need to really review your existing data. Demographics, age, past payment habits.

Sarah: 12:04

 Use what you already know.

Brad: 12:05

 Exactly. Use your data to figure out the optimal communication path for different segments. Don't just guess. Predict who's likely to respond best to a text versus who really needs that paper statement.

Sarah: 12:15

 Okay, so you figure out who needs what. The next big hurdle seems like managing it all without driving your staff crazy. You don't want five different systems.

Brad: 12:23

 Absolutely not. That leads to chaos. So step two is streamline. With integrated platforms, you need a single centralized system, not one tool for email and another for printing and mailing. One platform that can automatically route bills based on those patient preferences. You identified that eliminating staff confusion and costly errors makes sense.

Sarah: 12:44

 And when it comes to the paper side, you mentioned making that physical statement smarter, right?

Brad: 12:49

 That's the third point. Enhance your paper bills. This means making sure the QR code linking to the online portal is clear and prominent. Easy to find, easy to scan and add.

Sarah: 12:59

 Safeguards too.

Brad: 13:00

 Yes, safeguards on that paper statement are vital, like using NCOA services. That's national change of address. It automatically updates mailing information before you send the bill. Ensuring it actually gets to the patient, even if they moved last month, reduces returned mail significantly.

Sarah: 13:16

 Okay, good tip. And on the electronic side, clarity is key too, right? Don't want it looking like spam.

Brad: 13:21

 No, definitely not. So fourth, you have to customize your messaging for emails or texts. Use really clear professional subject lines. Something straightforward like your XYZ medical statement is ready. It needs to instantly communicate legitimacy and build trust, not look like some phishing attempts.

Sarah: 13:39

 Right. And finally, what about building in safety nets, making sure people don't fall through the cracks if one method fails?

Brad: 13:45

 Yeah, that's critical. Fifth is empower choices and build safeguards first. Actively let patients choose their preferred method. Give them that control. But here's the crucial. Set up your system so if an electronic bill bounces back or maybe isn't.

Sarah: 14:00

 Opened after a certain time, it automatically triggers paper.

Brad: 14:03

 It automatically pivots and sends a paper statement. That's your backup. And this is also where proactive tools fit in. Like something called Pre bill, which lets providers request payment via email or text before a scheduled appointment even happens. Gets the payment conversation started earlier.

Sarah: 14:18

 And like any big process change, this isn't something you just set up once and walk away from, is it?

Brad: 14:23

 Exactly right. The sixth step is you have to monitor and refine. Continuously track your performance metrics, look at delivery rates, response times, and especially that crucial DSO channel by channel. See what's working best for which segments.

Sarah: 14:37

 And you can see results fairly quickly.

Brad: 14:40

 The great news is because these systems are so automated and trackable, our sources suggest measurable improvements in those key areas can often happen within a pretty tight timeframe, like 60 to 90 days. Wow. Yeah. And the tools themselves are robust. Automated systems can send, say, up to three customizable pay reminders per month, maybe at 7, 14, 21 days past due. And integration is key. These platforms often integrate easily with over a hundred existing practice management or EHR systems.

Sarah: 15:08

 Well, this deep dive has definitely changed how I think about that, you know, sometimes boring looking statement that lands in the mail or my inbox. It's clearly a really strategically vital touch point.

Brad: 15:18

 It absolutely is. And the core insight I think is clear. That old either digital or paper mentality, it just doesn't serve today's diverse consumers. Nor does it serve the financial health of the provider or the organization. Hybrid billing done right maximizes collections, minimizes costs, and keeps patients satisfied by giving them that fundamental control they clearly demand.

Sarah: 15:40

 Okay, so here is our final thought for you, the listener, to chew on. Given this measurable success, we've discussed combining physical and digital touch points in a specialized area like healthcare billing or else. Where else in the modern consumer economy could a mandatory, or at least a strongly encouraged hybrid approach solve similar collection and satisfaction issues? Think beyond medical bills. Maybe gym memberships with recurring fees, utility bills that absolutely demand timely payment, even high touch subscription services. If getting paid quickly and keeping customer loyalty are your main goals, where does that physical statement, that physical touchpoint still deserve a strategic place in our increasingly digital world?

Narrator: 16:21

Thanks for tuning into the Billing Blueprint podcast. For more insights or to dive deeper dive deeper into today's topics. Head over to billflash.com. Don't forget to subscribe and we'll catch you next week with more strategies to keep your practice running smoothly and getting paid faster

Sources:

Hybrid Billing Strategies: Combining Electronic Billing and Paper for Better ROI