Healthcare price transparency is here to stay. New federal regulations require hospitals to publicly disclose their prices and negotiated rates for care services. Non-compliance can result in steep fines. Providers outside of the hospital may also need to comply with additional state-level transparency rules. With our Shop Book and Pay™ service, providers can comply with CMS price transparency rules by creating a digital storefront to give patients the clarity they seek. By offering transparent pricing and a quality digital shopping experience, providers can drive patient acquisition, increase collections, and differentiate their business in a crowded market.
Simplify Scheduling: Shop Book and Pay is as easy to use as the best online retail sites. Patients search for a specific procedure or test, comparing providers by price and quality. After choosing a provider, the patient simply adds the chosen procedure to their cart. Patients can immediately schedule the test or procedure before paying—all within the same shopping workflow. Shop Book and Pay integrates with your existing scheduling system, allowing patients to select the most convenient date and time for their procedure from your available appointments. Automated follow-up messaging confirms the scheduled appointment, which can be exported to the patient’s calendar. By automating the scheduling and payment process up front, before care is given, Shop Book and Pay helps to reduce no-shows. Patients are more likely to keep their appointments for pre-paid procedures.
Comply with Transparency Regulations: As of January 1, 2021, hospitals must publish a machine-readable file of their standard pricing for all services, to include the gross price, cash price, patient’s insurance negotiated price, and the minimum and maximum negotiated price for each payer. They must also establish a consumer-friendly way to find the price for each of 70 CMS-identified and 230 hospital-identified shoppable services. Independently implementing the Shop module of Shop Book and Pay allows your hospital to comply with all of these new price transparency rules— while also distinguishing your business from the competition. Consumer-friendly shopping functionality can pave the way for a full, retail-style digital transformation.
Drive Patient Volume: Hospitals and non-hospital providers can help consumers find their providers by delivering a retail-style shopping experience. Each provider can choose a closed or open configuration for its digital storefront. With a closed configuration, patients can see only the prices for a single provider, or providers associated with a hospital network. Providers may also choose to share quality and patient satisfaction ratings. With an open configuration, patients can view and compare prices for all regional providers offering a chosen service. A provider can gain valuable market differentiation by offering consumers a satisfying, quality digital experience—even if the provider is not the lowest cost provider available.
Increase Pre-Payments: Shop Book and Pay helps your organization reduce the administrative costs of accounts receivable, as payment is arranged before the episode of care. From the tool’s shopping cart, patients can pay their balance in full (via credit card, health savings account, or PayPal) to receive a discount. As procedures are bundled, their cost includes every service involved in an episode of care. The patient’s purchase pays for the facility fee, physician fee, and any laboratory fees, so there’s no need to worry about additional billing. Patients who are unable to pay in full benefit from knowing exactly how much they owe. Within the tool, they can arrange financing via CareCredit. They can also choose the AutoPay option, selecting a set amount to be billed each month until their balance is paid.
