Pulse Check—Patient Financial Engagement 2021
Recent PFE Adopters Realizing Outcomes

Main Reason for Adopting a PFE Solution Is to Improve Patient Financial Experience

Organizations evaluating whether to purchase a PFE solution should note that feedback from current PFE customers is very positive overall, and several vendors achieve high customer satisfaction. Provider organizations repeatedly share that their PFE solution helps them achieve tangible results. A majority of respondents say their primary goal in purchasing a PFE solution was to improve patients’ financial experience. Other types of solutions used to process patient payments are typically viewed as outdated and inaccurate, leading to low satisfaction among both patients and provider organizations. PFE solutions can offer a variety of functionality to enhance the financial experience, but according to respondents, the unified patient payment portal is the most commonly adopted and the most beneficial. This portal can simplify the patient payment process, consolidate statements into a single location, and offer payment plans to patients, thereby improving patients’ ability to engage and take ownership of their healthcare bills.

Majority of Organizations Achieve Key Outcomes & Near-Immediate ROIs

In addition to improving patient satisfaction, many provider organizations have significantly reduced costs (mainly from reducing the number of FTEs required to handle payments) and increased collections, regardless of the PFE solution they use. Multiple respondents have seen their patient collections and cash steadily increase since implementing their PFE solution because it makes the payment process easier and more convenient for patients. All respondents but one report realizing an ROI within the first 12 months of implementing their PFE solution; many saw near-immediate results.

Few Organizations Foresee Using PFE Solution from Their EMR Vendor

All respondents in this study use third-party PFE solutions, but will they continue to do so if EMR vendors enter the PFE market? Most respondents don’t believe their current EMR vendor will develop a comparable PFE solution in the near future, and few would switch even if their vendor released a solution. Only two respondents would move to a PFE solution from their EMR vendor (both are Epic customers); one doesn’t feel Epic currently has a comparable PFE solution. While EMR vendors currently offer pieces of PFE functionality, none offer a comprehensive platform, and some don’t intend to offer certain functionalities (e.g., payment plans for patients). One CEO of an ambulatory group shared, “I guarantee Cerner, Epic, and all the other EMR vendors will come out with something similar to [our PFE vendor’s solution], but the EMR vendors will pale in comparison. One vendor can’t be good at everything.” Other respondents feel similarly; they are deeply loyal to their PFE vendor because of the vendor’s valuable relationship and focus on improving the patient financial experience.

Organizations Achieve Valuable Outcomes with Their PFE Solutions

The data in this report comes from two sources: (1) KLAS performance data, and (2) KLAS perception data.

KLAS Performance Data

Each year, KLAS interviews thousands of healthcare professionals about the IT products and services their organizations use. For this report, interviews were conducted over the last 12 months using KLAS’ standard quantitative evaluation, which is composed of 16 numeric ratings questions and 4 yes/no questions, all weighted equally. Combined, the ratings for these questions make up the overall performance score, which is measured on a 100-point scale. The questions are organized into six customer experience pillars—culture, loyalty, operations, product, relationship, and value.

The number of unique responding organizations for each vendor is given in the table below.

KLAS Perception Data

To supplement the customer satisfaction data gathered with the standard evaluation, KLAS also created a supplemental evaluation to delve deeper into several questions specific to the patient financial engagement market. This evaluation asked respondents (1) why they adopted their PFE technology, (2) how they are measuring outcomes and how quickly they are realizing an ROI, and (3) whether they perceive their EMR vendor developing a comparable PFE solution and whether they would switch to an EMR vendor’s solution.