Seems like everywhere you turn, organizations are leveraging kiosks in retail environments. Healthcare is no exception. In a push to improve the patient experience, increase efficiency and reduce costs, implementing kiosks has become a natural choice.
Kiosks are used in a variety of healthcare environments for check in, making co-payments, wayfinding, and more. In many cases, users prefer self-service and will wait in a short line to use the kiosk, bypassing manned stations. 72 percent of consumers are more likely to choose a healthcare provider that offers the flexibility to interact via online, mobile and kiosk self-service channels over a provider that does not, according to a consumer research study commissioned by NCR Corporation.
Patient Convenience
Waiting for a doctor or hospital visit is one of the main frustrations patients face. This challenge may increase as an additional 40 million Americans have access to health insurance by 2014 through the Affordable Care Act, according to the Health and Human Services Department. Healthcare organizations are implementing kiosks to better manage wait times and aid patient flow. Kiosks offer other conveniences as well, such as:
- Easy access to account information to make co-payments and manage account
- More pleasant waiting room experience: faster check in and staff able to spend more time with patients who need it
- Ability to support multiple languages
- Privacy
- Reduced data entry errors for more accurate patient records
While a primary goal of kiosks is to improve the patient’s experience, they also help healthcare organizations operate more efficiently and effectively.
Operational Benefits
More than $2.7 trillion of healthcare payments are made in the U.S. annually with direct patient-to-provider payments representing $326 billion.1 According to a McKinsey & Co. report, about 35 percent of a provider’s total revenue will come from patients. Healthcare organizations look to add self-service payment options to speed the collection process and reduce costs.
As a complement to staff, kiosk benefits include:
- Making it easier for patients to pay and manage accounts thereby improving cash flow and on-time payments
- Integration with patient management systems lets patients updated medical history, verify insurance, and more
- Providing self-service options help retain patients and gain new ones
- Many kiosks offer on-screen and hardware branding opportunities
Payment Acceptance and Security
Healthcare organizations leverage multiple channels to accept payments. Adding kiosks as a payment channel becomes more manageable with a flexible payment solution as the foundation. TrustCommerce provides P2PE ready payment solutions fully integrated with leading kiosk solutions, as well as patient management systems, for efficient collections throughout the healthcare revenue cycle. Providers can process all major electronic payment types including credit card, debit card, and ACH/e-check transactions and utilize discretionary fields to assist in reconciliation for tracking information such as patient number, MRN, etc. TrustCommerce provides centralized reporting for all transactions and includes role-based security to manage locations and users.
Did You Know?
TrustCommerce partners with leading kiosk solution providers such as Welcome, JarDogs, DynaTouch, and CTR Systems. To learn about TrustCommerce healthcare solutions and kiosk partners, contact us.
1 Aite Group.