Click-through-Rate is a Strong Indicator of Overall RCM Performance
As we help transition the healthcare revenue cycle management world from paper based processes to digital, new KPIs and reporting will start to emerge. One such KPI is Click-through-rate (CTR). It’s a bit misunderstood and challenging to get synchronicity on its definition. Case-in-point, as I was discussing this post with my peer, and as we were doing research, we came up with at least a couple different data points that are truly important.
CTR across markets and technologies are <5%. But what does that really mean? Is it measuring the presentation of a search result and whether they click a result link? In our world of better patient billing and payments, we are trying to measure the effectiveness of electronic bills, specifically via email and text. It’s one measurement to see how many patients (or guarantors) click a link. But for effectiveness, we’re driving toward the conversion of an electronic message to a completed payment.
In looking at the data across our customer base, we see that we are up to 3X higher than the averages we can can find, ranging from 13%-16% full conversion. That’s substantial because it’s in direct correlation to what we see with overall collection rate improvements once we’re implemented. But let’s dig a bit. Right now, our conversion once a patient/guarantor has logged in is 48%. That’s a huge number. This means that almost half of every user who reviews their bill, will execute some form of payment, whether in full or accepting a payment plan. This is no accident. Our solution was built (and evolves) with these specific actions in mind: state the request for payment clearly and make it easy for the user to execute the payment. We actually measure CTR in four stages so that we can refine the solution to be more effective: Initial click, log in, payment page visit and payment execution. This tells us where users typically stop so we can focus product improvement efforts there.
We would be remiss if we didn’t call out how CTR (or specifically electronic communications) can influence the engagement on paper statements and payments, as well. We recognize that not every patient will want to pay online. Many will still use the paper statement as a means to mail a check. However, we also know that just because a patient may prefer to pay by check, they may have been influenced to pay by a friendly digital reminder. We know this happens because one of the more interesting scenarios we encounter from time to time is getting an envelope mailed to us which includes a check and a print out of the screen shot of the text. Yes, this happens. And to think, these “influencer” messages don’t get counted in CTR. A comprehensive payment solution allows a group or facility to fully understand the value of these metrics.
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So why does CTR really matter? CTR at any stage is an important KPI for several reasons. Financially, getting payments from eBills should certainly be an indicator of cost savings by producing (and paying for) fewer paper statements. Be careful and notice I said “should”. Many solutions today are technologies created by paper statement companies. They can check the box that they offer a portal or an eBill, but they’re not interested in reducing paper, they simply add eBills to the paper cadence. PatientPay was built with the patient in mind and a payment first approach.
An additional value indicator of CTR is time saved by staff not having to handle calls and take payments. Patients are now making more payments, self-service. And finally, measuring the final step of CTR is the conversion/payment. If your CTR is higher than the average, it’s likely your overall collection rate is higher. You’re getting paid more. Not to mention, if you look at which electronic message is driving the conversion, and it’s early in your billing cadence, then you’re accelerating payments, giving you those extra dollars faster and saving you from high 3rd party collection fees.
The benefits of a well executed electronic billing strategy are substantial. Don’t sleep on CTR as an indicator of revenue improvement. If you want to learn more about how we can help, we’d love to hear from you. Just send us a note to connect at?[email protected].