Benefits of Having Pricing Transparency and Its Impacts on Your Medical/Dental Practices
The medical industry is widely known to be one of the most crucial among the industries that we have today. The healthcare sector extensively addresses humans in their times of need. The medical industry is one that battles with the most critical illnesses. It is the sole industry that came up and fought against the Covid19 disease, which is the deadliest of diseases of recent times, and has successfully dodged the same.
Though the healthcare industry is always been highly relied upon by the patients of now, some of the things that the industry is still challenged with are the rising costs of the healthcare services, price transparency, thefts and frauds, lack of manpower, lack of patient engagement, errors in bills and claims and more.
Each day is a new challenge for the healthcare industry, which is growing its research and development facilities at a pace the world has never seen before. The Covid19 pandemic was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the industry of healthcare, which struggled hard to battle it and is yet to wipe it out forever. However, aside from the critical diseases that include the pandemic, there are numerous challenges for the healthcare industry, its processes, and its practices. One of the major issues that the healthcare sector is yet to counter is price transparency.
What is price transparency?
Transparency is the knowledge of a thing or a process and when it comes to the knowledge of the charges, then that can be termed as price transparency, and it is this transparency in pricing that the medical sector most definitely lacks now.
The US healthcare expenditure rose by 9.7% to reach $4.1 trillion in 2020, which can be narrowed down to bring the total healthcare expenses to $12,530, which each person has to spend. The spending or the costs for availing the healthcare services has not only risen for the hospital patients but the outpatients as well. The survey shows that the outpatient costs also rose to $706.4 billion, which was recorded annually at $381.5 billion. Though it is really important to know that such a sharp rise in the overall costs of healthcare is shocking indeed, it is also to be pointed out that all this rise in the healthcare costs are somewhat obscure, at least that is what the patients think today.
According to the latest statistical data, over 77% of patients think that the healthcare costs they get are really unpredictable. This needs to be sorted and price transparency needs to be built to reinforce the healthcare ecosystem that includes hospitals, practices, and other healthcare centers.
Why has the Price Transparency Not been Addressed Till Now?
The healthcare industry has grown far and wide. From the hospital establishments and the manual methods to the practices, from the patient's appointments to the follow-up processes, everything has gone through a transformation, which is continuing to benefit the medical sector riding the digital wave.
Yes, today we don't have to worry about receiving the pouring patient telephone calls for booking appointments, and neither we have to call them up and remind them about their appointments, reach out to them and change the appointments or cancel them.
However, the transparency of the prices/charges of the healthcare industry is still a problem that is yet to be addressed. The practices, both medical and dental, need to contribute to the overall price transparency of the medical industry, which is one of the modern woes that plague the industry at present. Though transparency in healthcare practices can bring enormous benefits to the practices and the medical industry, it is still one of the secondary priorities of the industry.
This is because of the numerous benefits that many of the fraudulent practices and other third-party providers enjoy. However, the time is ripe now to dissolve all of the problems regarding price transparency in healthcare.
Some of the Major Advantages of Price Transparency for Medical and Dental Practices!
Whether it is a medical practice, a family medicine center, or dental practice, the cost or the price of the services is something that is subjected to close scrutiny always by the patients. Besides, what is more, important here is that the practices should be open with their patients in terms of the charges of their services.
According to the latest survey reports, around 65% of patients deem that the transparency of the cost of healthcare services is a very important or critical aspect that adds to their overall satisfaction. Thus, the transparency in the healthcare prices would certainly help the practices improve the patient experience. Here are some more benefits of price transparency in medical and dental practices:
Improves patient satisfaction
Attaining optimum patient satisfaction is the primary objective of the practices now. Boosting patient satisfaction can be possible with the help of numerous easily implementable processes. Here, one of the most important ways that the practices can embrace today is if they bring transparency to their prices. Price transparency is really crucial in the healthcare industry.
According to recent statistics, young patients, more than others, want to know more about healthcare costs, where around 41% of the millennials request price estimates before they plan to undergo treatment under a particular practice. Furthermore, it has also been found that nearly 21% of the Baby Boomers often request price estimates before actually undergoing treatment. This is where pricing transparency would help practices hugely in improving the patient satisfaction rating they receive. Along with making the prices transparent for the patients, it is also important for the practices to help the patients experience the digital benefits in every phase of their journey with the implementation of the cutting-edge medical and dental office software that GrowPractice provides them with.
Boosts credibility
Transparency is a virtue that rewards the individual or the provider who is transparent with others. The transparency of prices here, in the healthcare industry, rewards the practices indeed by boosting the overall credibility of the medical/dental practices that make the healthcare charges transparent. The credibility that the practices gain, eventually helps them boost brand recognition and leads to enhancing the overall patient satisfaction and the practice revenues. It is this credibility that the brand gains through transparency that simply cannot be effaced!
Attracts new patients
Price transparency of the practices is rarely seen. Therefore, if you help your practice be transparent in terms of the prices, then that would certainly delight the old patients, who would then not only follow your practice and choose your practice before your rivals but also bring in new referrals, leading to a multiplication of the total number of patients your practice sees.
Retains old patients
Letting the patients know of your practice charges would help the patients be informed of their spending. This will, therefore, help them turn to your practices time and again, simply because they would be known of the service charges and need not be apprehensive of the extra charges that they might have to pay otherwise.
An alarming (75%) of the patients are of the opinion that healthcare costs are really unpredictable. The lack of transparency of the healthcare costs is also a major cause of the dissatisfaction of the patients. Therefore, with the transparency kept intact in your practice, this problem shall not bother your practice again.
The retention of your patients also depends on the wait times they experience, their overall digital satisfaction, the security they get, their appointment scheduling processes, and more, all of which can be bettered with the help of the effective and easy-to-use patient and practice management software that GrowPractice brings in.
Lessens patient no-shows
Pricing transparency also has a relationship with the patient no shows that the practices see. Now, if you have a transparent pricing system where you convey to the patients the charges for your practice procedures, then they would consider your practice and come back to the same without changing their minds. However, in case you weren't that transparent with the prices you charge, they would have reached one of your competitors or a rivaling patient practice that quotes them prices from beforehand. Here, even if your prices were less than that of the other provider, the patients would have gone to the latter simply because of the impression that your practice might have charged them extra or cheated them. This is why if you are thinking about the pricing structure or have in mind any plans of upgrading your systems and processes, then it is essential to keep your prices transparent.
If you are also seeing an increase in patient no-shows then implementing price transparency is an amazing way to reduce the same. Besides, some other ways to reduce patient no-shows would be to help them schedule, reschedule and cancel their bookings, help them see their own health information through secure portals, remind them of their visits, keep a waiting list, and more, that GrowPractice helps your practice attain.
Strengthens practice-patient relationship
Transparency is the key to boosting credibility. Furthermore, transparency in terms of cost can also lead to bringing your patients close to your practice. This will thus, increase the patient-practice relationship, which will further help your practice multiply its patients and revenues.
Helps in extending quality healthcare
Extending quality healthcare service should be the ultimate motto of your practice and others. Now, in order to extend quality healthcare, it is always necessary to house experienced doctors/physicians and medical staff, wield the best digital practices, follow the latest medical office tools and practice management from GrowPractice, and more. Here, being transparent in terms of the prices is also really for your practice and can be some of the factors that can make huge differences between your practice and the nearby rivaling practice.
Boosts morale
Transparent pricing for your practice would not only help the patients know of the charges that they will have to pay but also help them see a boost in the attraction of new patients, the retention of the older patients and would enhance the practice revenues. All of these would certainly help boost the overall morale of your practice and those who are associated with it.
Multiplies revenue
Making the healthcare charges transparent is one of the major changes that the practices of today are bringing in. The pricing transparency is eventually helping them gain recognition, boost their patient count, enhance credibility, strengthen the patient-practice relationship, reduce no-shows, foster patient satisfaction, all of which are leading to a multiplication in the practice revenues. Therefore, it is nothing but obvious that if your practice is transparent with the charges of the healthcare service it provides, then that would lift the overall practice revenues.
Now that you have got a clear idea about some of the major benefits that transparency in pricing can help your practice attain, you need to consider improving the price transparency in your practice. Besides, with that, you also need to be absolutely careful to have your practice transparency kept intact.
Here, if you are still confused regarding how to bring in price transparency in your medical/dental practice or family medicine center, then we have brought you some quick and easy hacks to help you implement price transparency in your practice.
Smart and Easy Ways to Boost Price Transparency in your Practice!
Curious about learning the easy hacks that will help you enhance the price transparency in your practice, then get set go!
Engage medical staff to inform the patients about the costs
One of the easiest ways to help your practice be transparent in terms of prices is to engage the medical staff working at your practice to proactively inform the patients about the charges. You can certainly implement this to contribute to price transparency.
Distribute flyers
One of the earliest marketing practices is distributing flyers/leaflets. You can also do the same if you need to enforce pricing transparency, where you can easily appoint persons to distribute leaflets that will contain the prices of your services. On the other hand, if you need not engage someone else, then you can perhaps keep the flyers on display where the patients can grab one for themselves and keep them handy.
Integrate the relevant pricing and package details into your website
Every business today has a website, even healthcare practices have their own websites for the benefit of all. Now, in order to make the enforcement of pricing transparency easy, you can simply put the prices on display on the official website of your practice.
Digital marketing is compulsory for every business now. This helps brands gain the recognition they want. Therefore, if you also follow a digital marketing plan for your practice or embrace any other forms of marketing along with it, then you can just integrate the prices of the services you offer. This will benefit you doubly by marketing your products and services and at the same time, helping your practice stay transparent.
Address the queries about the charges
Addressing the user's queries is a vital part of any business. The same goes for your practice. Addressing the patient's queries is certainly beneficial for your practice in ways more than one. Here, some of the patient queries are also concerning the prices they need to pay for the healthcare services offered. Here, if your practice addresses the relevant queries concerning the prices and others, then that would automatically help your practice stay transparent in the pricing.
Bring in EHR systems that display the costs
The EHR systems stand crucial in the healthcare business now. The Electronic Health Record systems help the patients know about their medical histories and more, which the patients are always really keen on learning about. As per the latest surveys, 78% of the patients are willing to check their medical histories and share sensitive personal information about them with doctors via secure online portals. This is where GrowPractice is greatly helping the practices with their secure and encrypted systems and processes.
You can certainly bring in EHR systems to boost the satisfaction rates and you need not even worry about the problems in integration because GrowPractice's medical software is designed to integrate well with other third-party EHR systems as well. Furthermore, with the EHR systems, you can also avail of the facilities that will enable them to display the practice charges right away.
Growpractice promises to mitigate all your price transparency issues!
If you are still worrying about extending optimum price transparency to your patients, then GrowPractice is beside you. With its effective medical office, patient management, and practice management systems, GrowPractice simply makes it easier for your practice to keep up with the price transparency that you have always wanted. Here are some of the many advantages that GrowPractice brings to your practice to enhance price transparency and provide a list of benefits for the patients:
Now if you are willing to explore more about the services of GrowPractice or experience its services for real, then don't hesitate and reach them this moment to boost your practice efficiency, the quality of healthcare, and multiply the practice revenues effortlessly!
