Explore how revenue cycle management companies can deliver services beyond claims processing and how they can benefit healthcare practices.
Claims processing is no longer enough. Revenue cycle management companies typically focus on claims submission, denial management, payment posting, and insurance follow-up. While these services remain essential, rising patient financial responsibility has made patient billing and payment collection a more significant part of financial performance, increasing the demand for greater support across the entire revenue cycle.
RCM companies that focus solely on insurance claims may overlook key revenue cycle opportunities. According to a recent MGMA poll, 90% of medical providers reported higher year-to-date operating costs than the previous year. This tightens cash needs and reduces a practice's tolerance for slow-moving patient A/R. By expanding into patient-facing financial services, revenue cycle management companies can differentiate their services, strengthen retention, and improve client outcomes.
Healthcare organizations should evaluate revenue cycle partners by their ability to reduce administrative workload, help patients resolve outstanding balances, and improve cash flow—not simply by the number of claims submitted. To deliver greater value, RCM companies must look beyond claims processing and consider all aspects of the financial journey, from initial communication through final payment and collections.
Why Healthcare Organizations Expect More From Revenue Cycle Management Companies
Driven by escalating financial pressures, staffing shortages, and complex technology integration, healthcare organizations are being forced to navigate a broad range of interconnected challenges, which include:
- Disconnected systems and vendors
- Expectations for digital payment experiences
- Growing accounts receivable
- Higher administrative costs
- Increasing patient financial responsibility
- Limited visibility into payment performance
- More billing inquiries from patients
These are not isolated issues. Healthcare organizations are being asked to support overstretched teams, strengthen security, improve data sharing, expand access to care, and manage financial pressures while continuing to deliver better patient outcomes.
Meeting Critical Benchmarks
Claims processing, while essential, only addresses the insurance portion of the revenue cycle. Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) allows organizations to implement targeted improvements and identify inefficiencies. For example, an account should remain in A/R for no more than 50 days. The Net Collection Rate (NCR) should also remain between 95% and 99%. By meeting these industry benchmarks, revenue cycle management companies can establish greater value by helping clients manage both patient responsibility and insurance reimbursement.
Supporting the Entire Financial Journey
Revenue cycle management companies that support the entire financial journey serve as strategic revenue cycle partners and are considered more than just outsourced billing vendors.
The following solutions deliver more value to the healthcare practices that revenue cycle management companies serve. These help them achieve their financial goals by reducing administrative burden and implementing cost-effective, income-producing strategies.
1. Add Pre-Visit Billing and Payment Collection
Payment collection should take place before the patient leaves the office, preferably before their scheduled appointment even begins. Revenue cycle management companies can help healthcare practices improve patient communication by proactively requesting payment of copays, deductibles, and outstanding balances in advance.
Pre-visit billing helps reduce unexpected bills and improve financial transparency. It provides patients with flexible payment options before affordability becomes a barrier to necessary medical treatment. Most importantly, collecting patient payments at or before the time of service helps to improve a healthcare organization's revenue cash flow.
How PreBill Can Help Improve Upfront Collections
BillFlash PreBill allows healthcare practices to easily send a secure link for pre-visit payment requests via text and/or email for seamless collection of patient obligations before a scheduled visit. Patients can easily review and pay their bills online 24/7 at the payment portal (PayWoot.com) before an in-office or telehealth appointment.
PreBill also adds unsurpassed value to RCM companies by reducing balances entering patient A/R, expanding service beyond back-end claims work, and helping clients establish a more proactive revenue cycle.
2. Provide Multi-Channel Patient Billing
Many patients have come to expect email or text notifications. However, a national survey found that 37% of patients preferred receiving balance updates and billing statements by mail, compared with 63% who preferred digital notifications via text and/or email. This underscores the need for healthcare organizations to offer multiple communication channels.
Revenue cycle management companies must be able to help clients provide a coordinated billing strategy that encompasses the following methods:
- Email and/or text notifications
- Mailed statements with QR codes
- Mobile-friendly patient payment portal
- Secure online payment links
Practices that do not offer digital communication options risk alienating patients. A recent poll indicates that 72% of consumers under 35 have switched or are willing to switch providers to receive a better payment experience. This current trend is driving the growing momentum of digital solutions in the healthcare industry, with 62% of patients preferring to pay their medical bills online.
From 2016 to 2024, there has been a 243% increase in the use of eStatements as the primary payment collection method, indicating a strong demand for the following types of solutions:
Mailed Bills
BillFlash Mailed Bills are professionally printed statements that include clear payment instructions and a QR code that directs patients to a secure online payment portal (PayWoot.com). This combines the convenience of online payments with traditional mailed statements. Practices that RCM companies serve can send a statement in a few clicks without having to stuff, print, and mail paper bills.
eBills
BillFlash eBills delivered via text and email provide patients with faster access to their statements and a direct path to view and pay their bills online through the secure patient payment portal (PayWoot.com).
Multi-channel billing strategies help revenue cycle management companies reach more patients, reduce delivery delays, improve billing visibility, and support both digital and traditional preferences for a more comprehensive patient billing service.
3. Automate Payment Follow-Up
Sending the initial bill is the first step in the patient financial journey. However, many patient balances remain unpaid because statements are overlooked, delayed, or postponed while patients navigate insurance discrepancies or competing financial priorities.
A 2022 survey revealed that 68% of patients delayed payment because they believed insurance would cover the bill. Additionally, 44% of respondents reported not making a timely payment because they were unsure if the bill was accurate. This illustrates how confusion and delayed follow-up significantly contribute to unpaid balances.
Overburdened administrative staff struggle to manage consistent follow-up, and manual reminder processes are often difficult to scale. Revenue cycle management companies can improve collections by offering automated follow-up that sends a schedule of reminders to patients via text and email, keeping balances visible. They must also provide account-level controls to handle exceptions and have systems in place to stop outreach when payment is received.
PayReminders
BillFlash PayReminders effectively automates scheduled patient payment reminders, removing accounts from the reminder cycle once a balance is collected. A cadence of electronic reminders is sent via text and/or email to ensure prompt communication and encourage patients to pay faster. Up to three emails and texts can be sent each month. Providers choose the cadence for when PayReminders are sent.
Automating payment follow-up also helps improve consistency, reduce manual collection work, prevent balances from aging, and allows RCM companies to handle more clients efficiently.
4. Offer Convenient Online and In-Office Payment Options
Patients are more likely to make timely payments when they can use convenient payment methods they know. This includes:
- ACH and eChecks
- Apple Pay / Google Pay
- Credit cards
- Debit cards
- Guest checkout
- In-office payment terminals
- Secure online payment portals
- Stored payment methods
The following BillFlash solutions make payment processing quick and easy:
BillFlash Pay
BillFlash payment solutions provide patients with 24/7 access to a secure online payment portal (PayWoot.com), allowing them to make a payment from any device. They can use PreBill to pay before a scheduled visit, GuestPay to pay a bill online without signing in, or sign in to access and manage their account at any time.
Patients can also set up payment plans, manage automated payments, and review their payment history. BillFlash Pay supports in-office payments through a modern payment terminal, including chip, swipe, tap, and mobile wallet transactions, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.
StoredPay allows patients to securely save preferred payment methods (credit cards, debit cards, or bank details) for future use. This simplifies future checkouts, enables flexible billing, and supports repeat visits. It is also PCI-compliant and meets industry security regulations to ensure sensitive financial data remains safe.
5. Add Automatic Payments and Self-Service Plans
Many patients prefer not to pay an outstanding balance in full in just one transaction. According to a recent survey, 63% of patients claim they would feel more confident paying for healthcare if they were offered a tailored payment plan. Without flexible payment options, larger balances may remain unpaid and can quickly convert to bad debt.
Revenue cycle management companies must be able to help clients provide recurring automatic payments, provider-defined plan rules, stored payment methods, self-service payment plans, and predictable monthly payment schedules.
BillFlash offers a comprehensive suite of services, including AutoPay and PlanPay, to help clients manage automatic payments.
AutoPay
BillFlash AutoPay automatically processes payments when new balances are generated, based on patient pre-authorization. The service offers key benefits for both patients and providers, with patients able to establish a “set-it-and-forget-it” system that securely stores their payment information for future bills. This eliminates late fees and penalties while reducing the burden of tracking bills and keeping up with due dates. Practices benefit from faster cash flow, lower labor costs, and predictable and consistent collection cycles that improve financial stability.
PlanPay
PlanPay allows patients to create a convenient online payment plan that meets specific guidelines established by the healthcare organization. This can include a minimum balance, a minimum monthly payment amount, and a maximum plan duration.
Providers get paid over time and achieve predictable cash flow when their patients set up a payment plan. Patients can avoid defaulting on their payments, which can lead to more expensive collection activities.
Services such as these add value to revenue cycle management companies by helping clients recover larger balances, improve payment consistency, reduce manual plan administration, and give patients more control over how they choose to pay.
6. Include Patient Financing
Affordability is the key to eliminating barriers that interrupt timely patient payments. When a patient is unable to pay their balance in full, revenue cycle management companies can step in to offer a budget-friendly alternative that meets the patient's needs before the account becomes delinquent.
Flexible patient financing can break large balances into manageable payments, minimizing treatment delays and improving access to care. It also supports faster payments to healthcare organizations and reduces the risk of an outstanding balance moving to collections.
FlexPay Enables Flexible Patient Financing Options
BillFlash FlexPay is a patient financing tool that allows eligible patients to finance their medical expenses and ensures the providers receive full payment upfront. It also features a quick online application with no hard credit checks, 0% interest options, and a 90% approval rate. Patients with a credit score as low as 500 could be approved.
Offering patient financing provides value to revenue cycle management companies by expanding affordability options, helping clients improve cash flow, and adding a high-value service to the RCM offering while supporting a more patient-centered financial experience.
7. Resolve Billing Questions Through Secure Messaging
Many patients tend to delay payment when they have questions or concerns about the amount due, previous payments, copays or deductibles, payment plans, or financing options. Phone-based communication can also lead to missed calls, lengthy hold times, additional staff workload, and voicemail delays.
Revenue cycle management companies can provide secure two-way messaging that allows patients to ask questions when reviewing their bill. This can significantly improve the patient financial experience.
Secure Patient Billing Messages
BillFlash offers Payer Messages, a two-way messaging service that allows patients to submit billing and payment questions online through the patient payment portal (PayWoot.com). Staff receive Payer Messages in the BillFlash portal and can respond at any time, eliminating administrative burden while significantly improving patient communication.
RCM companies that provide this type of service benefit from reduced inbound phone calls, faster removal of payment barriers, and the ability to keep all communication connected to the bill. Patients can also seamlessly move from question to payment without exiting the payment journey.
8. Connect Patient Billing With Integrated Collections
Collections should never require manual exports, limited account visibility, or disconnected spreadsheets that disrupt operational efficiency. Revenue cycle management companies can help clients implement a structured collections process that includes the following:
- Account-level visibility
- Flexible payment arrangements
- Provider review and approval
- Recovery tracking
- Reporting
- Rules-based account identification
Integrated Collection Services
BillFlash offers Integrated Collection Services to automatically flag accounts during routine billing file reviews when they meet established criteria. Healthcare organizations retain control over which balances are approved for collections, and they can track activity through the connected platform. Additionally, the provider gets paid first, not like traditional collection agencies that take their cut first.
Revenue cycle management companies can extend services throughout the revenue cycle to improve visibility and reduce manual transfers between systems. This creates a more seamless transition from billing to recovery.
9. Provide Analytics and Reporting That Demonstrate Value
Revenue cycle management companies need to show clients processes that are effective, explaining where revenue is being delayed and how services are improving overall financial performance through useful measures that include:
- Channel performance
- Collection recovery
- Electronic bill delivery
- Financing utilization
- Patient A/R days
- Payment plan utilization
- Payment trends
- Reminder performance
- Text and/or email engagement
- Time to payment
Analytics and Reporting
BillFlash combines patient billing, payment, financing, and collection activity to provide greater visibility across the patient financial journey. This service helps revenue cycle management companies demonstrate measurable results, strengthen client reporting, identify opportunities for improvement, and support more strategic client conversations that help justify and expand the RCM relationship.
Why an Integrated Platform Creates More Value Than Separate Vendors
Adding services can lead to complex issues, particularly when each capability comes from a different vendor. Separate systems can lead to multiple contacts, repeated data entry, separate logins, fragmented reporting, inconsistent support, difficult reconciliation, and disconnected patient experiences.
Revenue cycle management companies should look for a partner that connects patient billing, payments, communication, payment reminders, financing, collections, and reporting. A connected platform allows RCM companies to expand their service offerings without the need to integrate, build, and support every capability internally.
How BillFlash Helps Revenue Cycle Management Companies Expand Their Value
BillFlash grants RCM companies unlimited access to a connected platform for managing patient financial responsibility. Solutions include:
- PreBill: Payment requests sent via text or email help encourage seamless collection of patient obligations before a scheduled visit.
- eBills: Sent the same day they are approved via text and/or email, providing a fast and convenient way for patients to view and pay their bills.
- Mailed Bills With QR Codes: Ensures patients clearly understand their financial responsibility while encouraging them to make an online payment.
- PayReminders: Automatically send up to three text and/or three email notifications each month until the balance is paid.
- Payer Messages: A two-way communication platform that allows patients to ask billing and payment questions directly through the online payment portal (PayWoot.com). Providers respond to questions in the BillFlash portal.
- BillFlash Pay: This offers patients various ways to pay their bills, including in-office, online, and over-the-phone options.
- FlexPay: Patients can pay balances in monthly installments, ensuring providers receive full payment upfront.
- Integrated Collections: Providers manage the specific rules that automatically generate recommended accounts for collections, approve or withdraw accounts at any time, and recovery specialists call patients to help resolve outstanding balances.
- Analytics and Reporting: Provides invaluable insights into revenue flow, allowing staff to utilize a connected platform to track bills, account aging, and payments in real time.
- AutoPay: Patients can have balances automatically paid each time a new statement is generated.
- PlanPay: Lets patients set up automated payment plans based on provider terms for minimum eligible balances and maximum payment plan lengths.
- StoredPay: Patients can securely store payment methods for faster and more convenient future payments.
Why Choose BillFlash?
BillFlash also integrates with over 100 EHR and practice management software applications, enabling RCM companies to add new capabilities without forcing healthcare practices to replace their existing systems.
With BillFlash, RCM companies can move beyond claims processing to provide a more complete patient billing, payment, and collection experience.
Benefits for Revenue Cycle Management Companies
BillFlash offers a comprehensive suite of services to help RCM companies deliver capabilities that go beyond traditional claims management, enabling them to compete on value rather than price alone. Benefits include:
Improving Client Financial Performance
Helping healthcare organizations collect patient balances earlier, improve cash flow, and reduce aging A/R.
Strengthening Client Retention
Strengthen client relationships by supporting the entire revenue cycle instead of individual parts.
Creating a Better Patient Experience
Providing patients with clear communication, multiple payment options, and easier access to support helps create a better patient experience.
Scaling Without Adding Manual Work
Allows clients to use automation to manage billing notifications, reminders, payments, and account recovery across a larger client base.
Unlocking New Revenue Opportunities
Expanding into additional services can help create new recurring revenue or revenue-share opportunities.
Become the Revenue Cycle Partner Clients Cannot Replace
Claims processing remains vital to healthcare revenue. However, it no longer fully addresses the complex challenges many practices face in managing the entire revenue cycle. Affordability, billing, collections, payments, follow-up, and patient communication all influence financial performance.
By connecting these services, revenue cycle management companies can deliver stronger outcomes and become more strategic to their clients, helping them to maximize overall revenue while reducing administrative burden and creating a better patient financial experience.
Expand the Value of Your RCM Services With BillFlash
BillFlash helps revenue cycle management companies deliver more value through connected patient billing, collection, communication, financing, and payment solutions. From digital eBills and pre-visit payment requests to automated reminders, integrated collections, and flexible payment options, BillFlash gives you the necessary tools to support more of the patient financial journey.
Schedule a BillFlash demo today to learn how our billing, collection, and payment software can help expand existing services, improve client outcomes, and strengthen your position as a trusted revenue cycle partner.