PayZen Care Card Offers Peace of Mind to Patients, Increases Pre-Service Payments for Geisinger
About the Provider
- Includes thirteen hospital campuses, two research centers, and the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
- Empowers the more than three million people they serve to do well and be well
- Removes barriers to accessible, affordable, quality care in Central and Northeast PA
The Provider’s Challenge
Rising Deductibles and Increasing Care Avoidance
Geisinger Health System was not immune to the quickly shifting landscape of the patient revenue cycle. The steady rise in patient responsibility balances, accelerated by the growth of high-deductible health plans, has placed a financial burden on healthcare providers, who have traditionally relied on insurance companies to pay the bulk of medical services. Just in the last decade, the average deductible for workers with single coverage has increased 53% and a whopping 89% since 2010; Geisinger viewed this not as a trend, but as the new reality.
In addition to the growing strain placed on Geisinger, the increase in healthcare costs presented an obvious issue for patients. Newly required price transparency introduced by the No Surprises Act was leaving many patients with bill estimate sticker shock. Geisinger became concerned about an increasingly likely outcome: patients delaying or avoiding necessary care because they felt it was unaffordable.
Geisinger’s leadership knew from experience the consequences of delaying care. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of Geisinger’s patients avoided care to limit exposure to the virus. As these patients began returning to hospitals post-pandemic, many presented worsening health conditions and an increased need for extended care.
Recognizing that its lower-income patients would be especially hard-pressed to promptly pay for services, Geisinger collaborated with long-standing patient financing partner, PayZen, to develop a solution to quell patients’ concerns of unaffordable healthcare while meaningfully increasing pre-service payments in the process.
A Collaborative Solution
Flexible and Versatile Financing for Providers and Patients
Having previously partnered with PayZen, Geisinger challenged its financing partner to add even more flexibility to the patient revenue cycle.
Bob Dewar, Geisinger’s Chief Revenue Officer, also acknowledged that facilitating pre-service payments would be a crucial part of the solution: “The key is moving collections to the front of the process and setting up payment arrangements at that time. That way, we don’t have to worry about reaching back out to patients after care, after insurance billing, when it’s much more expensive to collect.”
The result of the Geisinger-PayZen collaboration is the Care Card, a flexible patient financing solution developed specifically for pre-service and recurring expenses with all the PayZen benefits that providers and patients love.
We understand that everyone’s financial situations are different and it’s our obligation to make sure our patients don’t avoid or put off necessary care for financial reasons.
Chief Revenue Officer
How the Care Card Works
Similar to PayZen’s post-service plans, the Care Card uses PayZen’s powerful AI platform to analyze over 30,000 data points to present an individualized monthly installment plan tailored to each patient’s financial circumstances. Charges to the Care Card are automatically converted to manageable, interest-free monthly payments. Card enrollment is refreshingly quick and easy and 100% of patients are approved.
A direct response to Geisinger’s challenges, the Care Card is an ideal solution to offer financing for patients with estimates, upcoming services, and recurring care cycles. The Card enables Geisinger to take a deposit or put a payment method on file while giving peace of mind to patients concerned about their ability to afford care.
Through integration with Epic Patient Estimates, PayZen even automatically engages patients with estimates for upcoming visits and procedures to encourage them to enroll. The Card limit takes the patient’s cost estimate into account and is almost always more than the estimate. This flexibility in patient financing alleviates the all-too-common administrative complexities hospitals face surrounding billing estimate uncertainties.
The Geisinger-branded virtual and physical card integrates with any of the healthcare system’s online checkout software or POS devices and can be used anywhere from physician clinics to pharmacies. Immune to the lack of interoperability plaguing healthcare organizations, the Care Card works across entire health systems, even amidst system migrations, as was the case with Geisinger.
Benefits of the Care Card for Providers
collections
Key Results
High Patient Interest and Growth, Geisinger Endorsement
71.1 PayZen’s Patient NPS Score (45 Industry Average)
The Care Card and Geisinger’s outstanding patient care have driven loyalty and high patient satisfaction. “When we rolled out the Card, there was quite a bit of interest on the patient side,” Dewar said. “It has continued to be adopted and to grow. The reaction from the users has been very positive. Even Geisinger employees have signed up.”
Furthermore, now that Geisinger is clearly showing patients what they will be responsible for upstream of procedures and giving them the option to pay on financing terms that work for them, Geisinger has seen an increase in pre-service payments and collection rates.
The Care Card enables Geisinger to continue fulfilling their mission of serving people to do well and be well. Bob continued: “Everything we do at Geisinger is done in an effort to make better health easier for our patients, members and communities. This includes making it simpler to afford and pay medical bills with no-interest plans on friendly, customizable terms.”