Build a Positive Patient Financial Journey at Your Practice or Business

When planning a vacation or shopping for new furniture, it’s easy to research prices online and get a clear idea of what to expect. But when it comes to health and wellness expenses, things aren’t so straightforward. Understanding the cost of health and wellness procedures or treatments can be confusing, and finding accurate pricing information may not be so easy.

Most patients and clients are juggling a number of financial priorities, and understanding the potential costs of health and wellness treatments is important to them.

For example, many Americans have faced unexpected healthcare expenses at some point in their lives. In 2024, nearly half (45%) of insured, working adults in the United States surveyed reported receiving an unexpected medical bill within the past year for a service they thought should have been free or covered by their insurance, according to a study by The Commonwealth Fund.¹

Additionally, many individuals find understanding medical bills to be a challenging task. A YouGov study revealed that nearly 4 in 10 Americans surveyed (38%) described medical bills as somewhat or extremely confusing.²

That’s why the patient financial journey matters — for both you and those you serve. This article offers insights to help you navigate that journey together and enhance the overall experience for your patients or clients.

What Is the Patient Financial Journey?

The patient or client’s financial journey begins with the individual’s first interaction with your practice or business. That may be a phone call to ask about pricing or a visit to your website to find out about payment options and what the patient’s financial responsibility may be. As a provider, you can simplify the experience by providing guidance throughout the financial journey.

Ideally, that guidance should start before patients or clients undergo any kind of service, and it should extend beyond treatment as well. The patient financial journey includes their experience and satisfaction throughout the entire revenue cycle management process.

To create a positive patient financial journey, it’s important to keep people informed and help manage their expectations throughout the process. Improving the patient and client journey starts with a well-organized and streamlined process that prioritizes mutual trust between patients and providers.

7 Strategies to Help Improve the Patient Financial Journey

There are several ways to improve and enhance the patient and client journey. It all starts with implementing helpful patient engagement strategies.

1. Discuss costs prior to service

To get the financial journey off on the right foot, consider contacting patients or clients before their visit. Help them understand what treatments and procedures may be covered by their insurance, as well as information on accepted payment methods and flexible financing options that may be available to them.

Train your employees to be compassionate, effective communicators as well. Clearly communicating services, procedures and associated charges helps keep everyone informed and on the same page. Ask your employees to discuss costs and address policies and expectations up front so patients and clients can plan accordingly.

2. Provide multiple ways to communicate with patients or clients

Consider offering patients or clients several ways to communicate with you, and ask them which method they prefer. For example, do they want to correspond via mail, personal email, home phone or cell?

Offer patients or clients with email addresses and smartphones the option to choose whether they want to receive email campaigns and/or SMS messages. Some people may never check their email, while others may ignore calls from unknown numbers. By letting patients or clients choose a method that works for them, you can help close a potential communication gap.

Consider leaning into user-friendly technology in your office, too. When patients and staff use tablets to update health information and sign in, for instance, your office may run more efficiently, helping your team focus on other tasks.

3. Give transparent and accurate cost estimates before patients or clients receive care

To help prevent billing misunderstandings, it’s important to be proactive. There are several ways you can support a smoother financial experience throughout a patient or client’s health and wellness journey. For example:

If you’re unsure how to answer a client’s financial question on the spot, don’t guess — instead, offer to follow up. Collect their contact information and get back to them once you have accurate information.

4. Provide a cost estimator tool

A majority of patients and clients want health and wellness transparency,³ so it’s a great idea to invest in tools that will help them understand their financial responsibilities for care. For example, consider providing a cost estimator tool and a payment calculator to help them prepare. Additionally, make sure your site correctly reflects the types of insurance coverage you accept.

Provide ways for patients or clients to pay for health and wellness care virtually as well. You might want to provide a QR code at your front desk for those who want to pay digitally. It may make sense to include popular payment options such as PayPal and Apple Pay (if you accept them), along with the CareCredit credit card. These helpful tools offer patients and clients convenient payment solutions.

5. Inform patients and clients about financial aid opportunities

If you are familiar with medical grant or assistance programs, make sure you let your patients or clients know. Communicating these options early may offer them a way to move forward with care.

Bottom line: Consider showing patients or clients that you’re willing to advocate for them.

6. Gather patient or client feedback (and act on it)

You can measure your entire patient payment journey by going directly to the source: Ask your patients or clients for feedback about their experience. You can implement customer experience insight tools such as Net Promoter Score, online surveys and in-person questionnaires, and sprinkle them throughout different parts of the process. If someone had a service that was anything less than great or found it difficult the payment process difficult, you’ll want to know so you can make positive changes.

Knowledge is one thing, but action is another — if specific issues continue to arise, consider acting on that feedback to help improve your systems in place.

7. Stay connected

The patient financial journey shouldn’t end once a patient or client receives care and pays their bill. You can nurture this relationship and keep in touch.

Consider staying connected via a patient portal and through other communications, including email and direct marketing. Remember, health and wellness is a journey, not a destination. It’s essential to prioritize patient engagement solutions if you want to help keep your practice or business top of mind for their next visit.

Now that we’ve covered smart strategies to help improve your patient or client financial journey, let’s dig into the benefits of doing so.

5 Key Benefits That Can Result From an Improved Patient Financial Journey

A strengthened patient or client journey can help fuel many advantages:

1. Better patient satisfaction

Educating and empowering your patients or clients about costs can help put them at ease. If they feel informed, they may enjoy a smoother, more satisfying experience.

2. Higher patient retention rate

With that clear, comfortable experience, they may be more likely to return and refer others to you. And they may even share positive reviews online, where other patients and clients are shopping around for health and wellness care.

3. Fewer denials and revenue adjustments

By simplifying confusing terms and paperwork, for patients, you can help reduce miscommunications that may lead to insurance claim denials and revenue adjustments. That means you may be reimbursed quicker, and patients can have the peace of mind that their care will likely be covered.

4. Reduce administrative burden

By streamlining billing and offering multiple ways to pay — especially with access to technology and software — you may save time in the long run. When your patients or clients take advantage of flexible payment and financing options through a third party provider, you won’t have to spend the time and money required to chase down those payments later.

5. Minimize Accounts Receivables

First, it’s a good idea to become familiar with your numbers and understand your existing accounts receivables. From there, you can help correct any cash-flow issues by getting to the root cause and implementing improved processes. Offering patients and clients options to help them fulfill payment responsibilities can help reduce the number of unpaid balances.

Above all, improving the patient and client experience can help improve patient and client loyalty, which will help you and the people you serve.

Create Better Patient Financial Journey Outcomes

When you provide clear communication about payment options from the start, your patients or clients may feel more confident about getting the care they want and need. Remember, improved patient financial experience can translate to the success of your practice or business, too, in the form of higher patient retention rates, fewer denials, reduced bad debt exposure and more.

Offer Flexible Financing at Your Practice

If you are looking for a way to connect your patients or clients with flexible financing that empowers them to pay for the care they want and need, consider offering the CareCredit credit card as a financing solution. CareCredit allows cardholders to pay for out-of-pocket health and wellness expenses over time while helping enhance the payments process for your practice or business.

When you accept CareCredit, patients or clients can see if they prequalify with no impact to their credit score, and those who apply, if approved, can take advantage of special financing on qualifying purchases.* Additionally, you will be paid directly within two business days.

Learn more about the CareCredit credit card as a financing solution or start the provider enrollment process by filling out this form.

Author Bios

Kathleen Garvin is a copywriting consultant in tech communications and freelance personal finance writer.

Nancy Mann Jackson is a journalist and content writer who writes regularly about finance and healthcare. Her work has been published by AARP, CNBC, Entrepreneur and Fortune.