Australia has one of the best public healthcare systems in the world, with excellent Medicare coverage giving every Australian access to essential healthcare services. Unfortunately, as good as our healthcare system is, there are some things that aren’t covered by bulk-billing, leaving people with significant out of pocket expenses. Even people with private health insurance are often saddled with substantial gap payments on top of their monthly insurance dues.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, nearly a third of Australians (31%) say they wouldn't be able to live off savings for a month, and 13% couldn’t last a week. With such precarious finances, it’s really no wonder that a large number of Australians are either avoiding booking healthcare appointments, or delaying making appointments as long as possible, then only requesting the bare minimum when it comes to treatments or products in an effort to stave off bill shock .
In an effort to avoid a bill that could financially ruin them, be it a dentist bill, a new pair of glasses, a specialist appointment, physiotherapy or the like, around four in 10 Australians avoid or postpone medical appointments due to cost. Of those patients that do attend appointments, around one in four postpone recommended follow up treatments due to cost. Not only does this negatively affect the health of people across the country, it affects the growth of your practice as well.
Helping Patient Avoid Bill Shock
Finding ways to help patients stop avoiding or postponing healthcare appointments due to bill shock is vital both for their health and for the health of your practice. One of the surest, proven methods to help patients get the care they need, when they need it is by adopting a “care now, pay later” payment policy. While it may be possible to put together some kind of bespoke payment plan option for your practice, to do so would take a lot of time, both in planning and administration, especially when it comes to chasing up payments.
A far easier way to offer patients payment plans is by engaging the services of a Buy Now, Pay Later payment plans provider. MyHealth1st has partnered with top BNPL providers, Openpay, AfterPay and LatitudePay to give practices a fast and simple way to offer payment plans to patients.
Payment plans allow patients to schedule payments over time. The amount of time that a bill can be paid over depends both on the size of the bill and the provider, but despite any variables, all payment plans allow people to fold smaller payments into their monthly expenditure rather than facing a single large bill.
When opting to pay their bill through a BNPL provider, patients first agree to the terms and schedule for repayments, and make an initial payment. The BNPL provider then pays the practice the full amount of the bill up front (minus a transaction fee) and takes ownership of the debt, performing any follow ups or administration that may be required.
Openpay offers repayment plans from two to 24 months on bills up to $20,000 across a wide range of healthcare modalities, including Dental, Optical, Audiology, Allied Health, CPAP Devices, Pharmacy and more.
AfterPay specialises in smaller transactions paid off in four payments over six weeks, making it a perfect choice for emergency dental work, a new pair of glasses and the like.
LatitudePay offers a great deal of flexibility when it comes to payment plans, with health transactions worth up to $1,000 paid over 10 weeks with no interest, or up to $10,000 over 6-24 months with a $10 monthly account keeping fee.
Why Should Practices Adopt Payment Plans?
Helping patients avoid bill shock is but one of the reasons you should consider offering payment plans. Australians have embraced digital channels en masse when it comes to managing their healthcare. 90% of patients prefer to book their healthcare appointments online, and 40% say they would consider changing providers if a practice didn’t offer digital bookings. With this overwhelming support for digital healthcare management is it really any wonder that people are embracing, in rapidly increasing numbers, a digital way of paying their bills as well?
As of 2019, BNPL plans have overtaken credit cards as a preferred method of paying for healthcare, and the number of people opting for payment plans has only increased since then, thanks both to the financial instability brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as their ease of use and convenience.
The partnership between MyHealth1st and the premier BNPL providers allows patients to see the availability of payment plans at time of booking. This means that not only are patients able to search for practices offering payment plans, it also allows them to sign up and be approved for payment plans before the appointment, saving your front desk time.
In addition to saving time at the front desk, offering payment plans is also proven to increase average transaction value (ATV). By being able to spread their repayments over a number of weeks or months, patients are able to opt for premium products or services, rather than just the bare minimum. Entering into a payment plan can mean the difference between a tooth getting pulled or a root canal and crown, or a single pair of cheap glasses versus a pair of fashion frames and a pair of prescription sunglasses.
In simple terms, when people aren’t afraid of having to scrape together money for a single bill, they’re far more likely to get what they need rather than simply getting what they can get by with. Not only does offering payment plans increase ATV, the availability of BNPL has also proven to increase booking as well, both by attracting those patients who may otherwise avoid healthcare appointments, and from those who are regular users of Buy Now, Pay Later services.
The Buy Now, Pay Later providers partnered with MyHealth1st, LatitudePay, AfterPay and Openpay all feature a searchable marketplace that allows people to find practices that offer payment plans. If your practice offers payment plans then these marketplaces, in addition to the MyHealth1st Marketplace , can drive significant additional traffic to your website and bookings to your practice.
Don’t restrict your practice to a single provider. Brand loyalty is nice, but when it comes to payment plans, offering multiple options is the best choice. Rather than committing to a single Buy Now, Pay Later provider, offering multiple options to your patients is an easy and cost effective way to increase the reach of your practice and attract new patients. Offering multiple BNPL providers ensures that prospective patients can pay in their preferred manner, and will expand the number of marketplaces in which your practice appears.
If you’d like to learn more about how offering Buy Now, Pay Later payment plans for your patients can help increase your booking as well as practice revenue, click the link below, enter your details and a member of the team will be in touch as soon as possible.
