Bride financial services and health care

After spending almost two decades in the financial payment sector before moving on to health care, I think I have acquired unique information on how the principles of traditional financial services can transform patient payment experience. This development is crucial because health care organizations seek to meet the expectations of modern consumers.

Consumer behavior leads to innovation

Throughout my career, a principle has always been true: consumer behavior animates industry. If consumers collectively modify their payment preferences, the entire ecosystem must adapt. We have seen it several times in the financial world, where emerging payment solutions have prompted institutions established to develop competitive alternatives.

Consider the Peer-to-Peer payment networks. When these solutions have emerged and acquired rapid adoption thanks to the effects of viral networks, traditional financial institutions have recognized that they lost both the volume of transactions and – perhaps more important – the crucial contact points of consumers. The resulting innovations were not created because institutions thought they would be interesting projects, but because consumer behavior required an answer.

The same dynamic applies to health care. Since patients provide their payment preferences and expectations for retail experiences in health environments, providers must evolve to respond to these changing requests.

The quest for transparent payments

When I sometimes have to update my payment information when checking online, it’s always shocking – a reminder that yes, there is a payment mechanism running behind the scenes. Most of the time, good payment experiences should be practically invisible.

According to my experience, the ultimate objective of health care providers should obtain truly transparent payments. Whatever the way patients choose to pay – be it a card, a bank transfer, a digital portfolio or another method – the process should feel effortless. Electronic commerce managers have established the standard in this area. Think about the ease of purchase of purchase of anything from the main online retailers and to consult without friction. The payment mechanism fades in the background, becoming practically invisible. This transparent experience is that health care providers should aspire to create.

Navigation of health care technology constraints

One of the unique challenges of health care payments is that a large part of the supplier’s experience is governed by their electronic health file system (DSE). Successful payment innovations in health care must work in these established systems while expanding payment options for patients. When new payment options are integrated into patient portals, adoption can be immediate and enthusiastic, demonstrating that patients want the same practical payment options in the health care they use in their daily lives.

Meet patients where they are

The creation of payment experiences truly focused on the patient means offering several payment methods that align with how patients already prefer to pay. Whether traditional payment cards, banking transfers, digital portfolios or emerging payment solutions, these options should be available without friction and familiar.

This will become more and more important as young generations become greater health care consumers, providing their digital payment preferences with them.

Coherence creates confidence

When implementing new payment options, consistency with established experiences is crucial. If a patient accesses a payment method via your portal and the experience seems or feels different from what they are used to, he lifts red flags. This disrupts not only the transaction, but can trigger concerns about the legitimacy of the transaction.

Such an friction can lead to lasting negative perceptions, which can take time to change. By maintaining coherent experiences between payment methods, we strengthen trust and trust in the payment process.

The discretionary and non -discretionary dilemma

Perhaps the most fundamental difference between the payments of retail and health care lies in their nature – discretionary and non -discrient expenses.

When purchasing consumer goods, we can plan, budget and compromise according to our needs and financial situations. If I want a premium product but I can only afford a basic model, I have options. I can personalize my purchase according to my budget and my requirements.

Health spending does not always offer this flexibility. A patient cannot easily ask a supplier to provide partial treatment because he cannot afford complete care. If a required treatment diet requires several drugs, it is rarely possible to say: “I can only afford it now.” The options are austere: obtain the necessary care and improve, or not obtain care and potentially undergo consequences. An area where health care payments have contributed to resolving this dilemma is to provide payment plans to help reduce the stress associated with medical expenses.

This fundamental difference creates unique challenges for health care payment systems. Although retail consumers can adjust their purchases according to budgetary constraints, health patients often have limited options. This reality makes the payment experience of health care that is all the more critical – and all the more difficult to perfection.

While we turn to the future of health care payments, organizations that prosper will be those that carefully attract the ideas of other industries, while remaining aware of the distinct complexities of Healthcare. By creating payment experiences that look less like a burden and more like seamless, practical and flexible transactions that patients experience elsewhere, we can considerably improve patient satisfaction and financial performance.

The future of health care payments does not consist in reinventing the wheel, it is a question of bringing the best of what works elsewhere in an industry that needs payment innovation. By putting patients at the center of the design of payments, health care organizations can transform what has been traditionally a point of friction into an opportunity to improve the overall patient experience.

Photo: sorbetto, getty images

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