How to Improve the Patient Billing Experience

Imagine getting a hospital bill months after treatment—unexpected, confusing, and unclear about what’s owed. You’re not alone.

Studies show that 50% of patients find medical billing more confusing than insurance coverage itself, and nearly 60% of Americans have received a medical bill they didn’t understand.

For many, this confusion isn’t just frustrating—it leads to delayed payments, financial stress, and even postponed healthcare out of fear of unknown costs. In fact, research suggests that one in three patients will avoid seeking medical care altogether because of billing concerns. On top of that, billing errors are widespread, and aggressive collection tactics can further erode patient trust. A recent survey found that 80% of patients have encountered a billing error, with some facing excessive charges or unexpected denials.

While providers may see billing as a separate administrative function, patients view it as part of their overall healthcare experience. A poor billing experience can erode trust, damage patient-provider relationships, and impact satisfaction scores—even when the clinical care itself is excellent.

So, how can providers bridge this gap and create a seamless, patient-friendly billing experience? 
It starts with transparency, technology, and proactive communication.

A patient’s perception, feelings, and interactions related to the financial side of their healthcare is known as the patient billing experience.

The billing experience includes many interactions throughout the patient journey: setting appropriate expectations before the first appointment, informing patients about payments due at point of service, and providing personalized billing support and financial counseling.

To improve the patient billing experience, start by understanding patients’ needs at each stage 
and making operational improvements and technology investments that prioritize patients’ needs.

Common Patient Billing Issues

For most patients, medical billing is confusing, frustrating, fragmented, and time-consuming. The American Hospital Association summarized the key issues with patient billing this way:

“Patients report that bills can be difficult to read, sent separately from different providers, contain unintentional errors, are sometimes for an unexpected amount and fail to provide ready access to flexible financing options. For example, for breast cancer surgery, a patient may receive separate bills from the hospital, the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, the pathologist and the laboratory, depending on each provider's relationship with the hospital or health system and whether they do their own billing.”

While providers may see billing issues as separate from the clinical side of patient care, patients don’t necessarily see it this way. When patients have difficulty understanding and paying medical bills, it negatively affects their view of the provider and overall quality of care.

Statements are unclear:

• Don’t understand the bill
• Don’t know which service dates and services are covered
• Different explanations provided by various contacts

Statements are unexpected:

• Charges are higher than expected
• Bills from multiple providers
• Bills arriving months late

Multiple statements for one episode of care:

• Think they have paid the full bill
• Pay before insurance has finished processing the claim

Insurance coverage confusion:

• Patients are unclear about what insurance covers vs. what they owe
• Out-of-network charges appear unexpectedly
• Insurance denies claims, leaving patients with unexpected bills

Lack of price transparency:

• Patients don’t know the cost of services upfront
• Patients receive a higher-than-expected balance due after treatment
• No clear breakdown of what’s included vs. separate charges

Difficult or outdated payment methods:

• No easy way to pay online or via mobile
• Payment options don’t include credit cards, digital wallets, or payment plans
• No ability to securely store payment info for future use

Long delays between service and billing:

• Patients receive bills months after treatment
• Bills are sent before insurance finishes processing, causing confusion
• No ability to securely store payment info for future use

Hard-to-reach billing support:

• No clear patient support contact for billing issues
• Long wait times for phone support
• Conflicting answers from different reps about payment, insurance, or balances

Lack of payment plan options:

• Patients can’t afford to pay in full but aren’t offered a payment plan
• Payment plan terms are too rigid, leading to missed payments
• Patients aren’t aware that financing options exist

Surprise medical bills from provider “split billing”:

• Patients receive separate bills from different departments for the same visit
• The hospital, physician, anesthesiologist, and lab all bill separately, leading to confusion
• Patients assume their initial payment covered everything

These issues frustrate and confuse patients, whether they have the financial means to pay immediately or not. In many cases, patients who would benefit from financial counseling, payment plans, or flexible payment options are not aware of those options. This billing-related stress contributes to patients not only delaying payment, but also delaying healthcare altogether for fear of being unable to pay.

Benefits of a Great Billing Experience

The patient billing experience is often underappreciated as part of the overall healthcare experience. The patient’s experience with the financial side of care—whether positive or negative—affects overall engagement, loyalty, and patient satisfaction.

When the patient billing experience is excellent, providers see:

• Higher patient satisfaction — leads to better retention and more referrals
• More timely payments — more predictable revenue cycles and fewer days spent in A/R
• More complete payments — a higher proportion of patients’ financial responsibility is paid
• Improved organizational reputation — fewer billing errors and better technology improves providers’ accuracy and credibility
• Fewer patient support calls — A clear, intuitive billing process reduces inbound billing inquiries and administrative workload
• Lower cost to collect — A more efficient billing system reduces manual follow-ups, paper statements, and collection costs
• Stronger patient engagement — Patients who understand their financial responsibility are more likely to engage in their care and follow through on payments
• Reduced risk of bad debt & write-offs — Transparent billing and flexible payment options increase collections and minimize revenue loss

Common Barriers to Improving Patient Billing

It’s clear that the patient billing experience is overly complicated—especially compared to the billing and invoicing process in other industries. So why do many providers stick to the status quo?

• Lack of staff training or resources: When patients have questions or concerns about their bill, staff should be prepared to support with the right information and resources. This requires training and ongoing coaching on not only medical billing, but also communication and other soft skills.
• Resistance to change in billing practices: New habits take time to build, especially when staff have been working in-or around-the limitations of existing systems for many years. Implementing new billing systems and building new RCM workflows is daunting for many providers.
• Outdated billing systems: Many providers have legacy billing systems that are hard to integrate with new technologies. This can slow or prevent the adoption of digital patient billing and other communication tools that would otherwise improve the patient experience.
• Lack of patient engagement in billing: Many providers fail to proactively communicate billing details in a clear, accessible, and timely way, leading to confusion and missed payments.
• High administrative costs for billing operations: Manual workflows, high call volumes, and rising staff costs make patient billing inefficient and expensive, all of which drive up the cost to collect.

7 Strategies to Improve the Patient Billing Experience

To improve the patient billing experience, healthcare providers should implement patient-friendly practices, leverage technology, and streamline their processes. Start with these best practices:

1. Communicate Early, Often, and Clearly

Communication is essential to the patient billing experience. Clear communication helps set accurate expectations from the start and clear up misconceptions or concerns that come up throughout the patient journey.

Focus on the following communication touchpoints in the patient billing experience:

• Initial interactions: Explain billing practices, insurance coverage, and patient financial obligations upfront.
• Billing statements: Ensure patient statements are clear, itemized, and easy to understand. Generate statements and resources in multiple languages — multilingual AI can help — to empower patients to understand financial obligations in their preferred language.
• Patient support: Respond effectively to patient inquiries in multiple channels and formats, e.g. phone, email, and self-service chats.

RCM software can help improve and streamline patient-provider communication. For example, use automated billing and payment reminders to help patients remember upcoming payment dates and prevent stressful past-due notices. Include patient support channels in this communication — e.g. “Contact us at X for questions or to discuss financial counseling and payment plans available to you” — to make the most of this interaction.

2. Streamline the Payment Process

It seems simple: make it easier to pay, and patients are more likely to pay and have a positive experience with the overall billing process. Whether it’s healthcare services or the average retail product, more convenience means higher likelihood of purchase/payment.

To streamline the payment process, start with:

• Automated notifications: Use RCM software that automates billing reminders, notifications, and payment confirmations for patients.
• Patient payment links: Offer simple, no-login-required payment workflows that are designed for mobile devices.
• Payment options: Provide multiple payment options: credit cards, online payments, and automatic deductions. Allow patients to securely store their card on-file for ease.
• Payment plans: Offer payment plans and other flexible payment arrangements to increase likelihood of payment.
• Self-service tools: Enable patients to view bills and outstanding balances, as well as schedule payments and ask billing questions, in a portal they can access at their convenience.

3. Train Staff on Billing Procedures and Patient Relations

RCM, healthcare billing, and financial terms can be complex, and it is often an emotionally taxing topic for patients. This makes staff training and coaching major components of the patient’s billing experience. Providers must ensure staff are prepared and empowered to guide patients through the billing process from start to finish.

To equip staff to create an excellent patient billing experience, focus on:

• Financial concepts: Train staff on medical billing concepts, RCM processes, common patient questions, and regulatory changes. Ensure staff members understand recurring cycles (e.g. deductibles resetting Jan. 1) that affect large groups of patients at once.
• Communication and soft skills: Train staff on emotional intelligence, communication skills, and how to respond empathetically to patients’ needs without tolerating abusive behavior.
• Ongoing coaching: Coach staff to identify and prevent common medical billing errors and respond to recent trends in patient billing data (e.g. an increase in claim rejection rate for a specific payer).
• Resources: Ensure staff have reference materials to use during patient interactions and/or resources to send directly to patients when relevant.
• Prioritization: Use technology to simplify and automate basic tasks (e.g. billing reminders), enabling staff to spend more time on complex situations and inquiries that require the human touch.

4. Proactively Prevent Billing Surprises and Errors

Billing errors and surprises sour the billing experience for patients. To avoid these frustrating issues, finance teams should invest in the right technology, prioritize staff training, and optimize RCM processes.

To reduce billing and verification errors:

• Verify patient insurance eligibility before appointments
• Systematically review billing and coding entries to avoid oversights
• Review insurance claims before submission

To avoid billing surprises:

• Provide upfront estimates of patient costs for price transparency
• Discuss out-of-pocket costs before treatment
• Set expectations for changes in insurance coverage, deductibles resetting, and other changes
• Make it easy for patients to view (and pay) their outstanding balance
• Follow up on claims to ensure timely payment and offer support

Look for billing and RCM software that offers features to reduce errors and surprises: automated claims review technology.

5. Offer Patient Billing Support

Patients who feel supported throughout the healthcare financial journey are more likely to have a positive billing experience. To effectively support patients through the billing process:

• Train patient advocates and patient billing support teams
• Help patients understand deductibles, copays, and other payment due at service
• Make it easy for patients to find and understand billing statements
• Resolve billing errors in a timely manner
• Ensure patients understand payment plans and other flexible options
• Leverage AI-powered billing support to provide faster, round-the-clock assistance

With Billie, Collectly’s AI agent, providers can automate up to 70% of patient requests, freeing up valuable staff time while ensuring patients get faster resolutions. Whether it’s answering common billing questions, guiding patients through payment plans, or providing multi-language support 24/7, Billie enhances the patient experience by delivering instant, reliable assistance — on the patient’s terms.

It’s also essential to offer omnichannel support, allowing patients to get help through their preferred channel — phone, email, online chat, or AI-powered self-service. By reducing the delay between “patient question emerges” and “patient submits question to provider,” providers can give better, faster answers that improve the patient-side experience while ensuring billing concerns are addressed efficiently, enhancing both patient satisfaction and operational efficiency.

6. Measure the Billing Experience

To make an improvement to the billing experience, start with the baseline. Measure the patient billing experience with relevant KPIs to ensure you create the right strategy and execute it effectively.

Measuring the healthcare billing experience effectively involves:

• Net Promoter Score (NPS) for billing: Use NPS surveys to ask patients about their level of satisfaction with the billing process.
• Patient Effort Score (PES): Measure how easy it is for patients to complete billing-related tasks.
• Feedback loops: Collect real-time feedback from patients about their experience to continuously improve the billing process.

7. Focus on Patient Engagement

Improving patient engagement is a key goal for any healthcare provider. More engaged patients show up for appointments, communicate with their provider, and build longer-term relationships with providers than non-engaged patients.

According to an article published in the Journal of Patient Experience:

“An important part of the patient experience is to provide clear expectations regarding the payment process and the patient's financial responsibility which can help facilitate patient engagement in those processes. That is, if patients understand what to expect about their financial responsibility, they can more actively engage in taking action on their portion of healthcare bills. Being more engaged in their healthcare by taking on the role of a consumer also helps patients reduce overall treatment expenses, an especially important factor given rising healthcare costs.”

Engaged patients experience better clinical outcomes — and they are more equipped to navigate the financial side of healthcare, too. When they are highly engaged with the provider, they are more likely to pay their bills (even if they experience a hiccup or inconvenience along the way) and follow up to inquire about payment plans or making partial payments.

To increase patient engagement in the billing process:

• Equip patients with the information and resources they need to understand their financial obligations
• Use technology like patient portals, mobile payment, and text to pay to reduce friction in the payment process
• Use digital reminders and follow-ups, such as push notifications for upcoming payment due dates or updates on claim statuses
• Consider mapping the patient journey to better understand the opportunities for engagement at every stage
• Initiate communication throughout the patient journey to empower patients to ask questions and build their comfort level with patient-provider interactions — increasing the chance they will read and respond to billing communications when the time comes.

How Collectly Drives a Better Billing Experience

A negative patient billing experience is confusing, frustrating, and unsatisfying for patients. It can be the reason — or a big component of the reason — that patients switch providers or leave a negative review. On the flip side, a positive patient billing experience drives patient loyalty, retention, and referrals.

Improving the patient billing experience starts with the right technology. By simplifying billing processes and reducing friction, providers can enhance patient satisfaction and accelerate payments. That’s why healthcare organizations using Collectly report a 95% patient satisfaction rate with their billing experience.

Collectly transforms patient billing into a seamless, digital-first experience. With AI-powered automation, Collectly delivers clear digital statements, self-service payment plans, autopay, and secure card-on-file functionality — reducing friction for patients while accelerating payments for providers.

Unlike traditional billing systems, Collectly integrates with any EHR or PM, making it easy to modernize your revenue cycle without disrupting existing workflows. AI-enhanced billing workflows proactively keep patients informed, reducing support calls, streamlining collections, and improving patient satisfaction.

See how CleanSlate increased patient revenue by 250% and reduced paper statements by 80% with Collectly, or request a demo today!