The 2013 Connance Consumer Impact Study Shows Correlation between Business Office and Patient Loyalty

Waltham, MA (PRWEB) December 10, 2013

Connance (http://www.connance.com), a provider of predictive analytic technologies that improve the financial performance of healthcare providers, today announced that according to its fourth annual Connance Consumer Impact Study, a survey of Americans who received hospital services within the last year, 29% of patients surveyed gave their most recent hospital billing experience a top satisfaction score while 19% were fully dissatisfied. While these percentages are similar, the top score percentage is 4 percentage points better than 2012 and it is the third year in a row it has shown improvement.

38% of 2013 respondents said that their interactions with hospital billing groups influenced whether or not they would recommend the hospital to a friend, while this percentage was 32% in 2012. Patient payment responsibility, a component in their overall engagement, is increasing rapidly as a result of the growth in high deductible health plans among employer populations and plans offered through health exchanges as part of the rollout of the Affordable Care Act. According to the January 2013 annual census by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) of U.S. health insurance carriers, 15.5 million people were covered by high deductible or health savings account plans, an increase of 15% from the 2012 study.    

The 2013 Connance Consumer Impact Study is an online survey of 500 healthcare consumers from 48 states, 9% of whom were uninsured and 91% of whom were insured. Among the insured respondents, 36% had high deductible plans, up from 32% in the 2012 survey. Executed in September 2013, highlights from the survey include:

• Among respondents giving billing processes a top score, 88% would recommend the hospital to their friends and only 5% would suggest their friends to go elsewhere. Among respondents giving billing processes less than satisfied scores, only 15% would recommend the facility, while 58% would suggest their friends to seek service elsewhere.
• 96% of respondents that gave the billing process a top score would return to the same hospital for a future elective service, compared to 49% among those ranking the billing process very dissatisfying.
• Among respondents, 29% gave billing processes a top score of “5” (on a 1-5 scale) and 51% rated the billing processes a “3” or less. These results are better than in previous years when top score percentages were 20% in 2010, 21% in 2011, and 25% in 2012.
• Satisfaction is higher among insured respondents without high deductible plans, 36% ranked billing processes a top score, while only 22% of those with high deductible plans ranked it similarly.
• Of consumers with balances due of greater than $100, those who gave business office processes a top score, 70% paid their hospital bills in full. Among less than satisfied consumers, only 29% paid their bills in full.

Business Office is Emerging as Vital Lever in Building Patient Relationships

“We are entering a new era in the relationship between providers and consumers, one where consumers own a meaningful share in funding their care and where interactions to manage that liability are notable and behavior influencing. Leading healthcare executives will acknowledge this relationship and leverage it going forward,” said Steve Levin, Chief Executive Officer of Connance. “In our daily lives, consumers are naturally reluctant to follow instructions from people or organizations that they do not find satisfying. Healthcare interactions should be no different. If we want consumers to follow our clinical directives off-campus, we should work to make every interaction, even those non-clinical, positive and reinforcing.”

Revenue cycle is one area of possible opportunity. The engagement patients have with the revenue cycle enterprise starts well before they arrive on-campus and can extend for weeks after treatment. Revenue cycle interactions are also financial in nature, which is always high on the agenda of most consumers. There are likely many opportunities in the revenue cycle process for hospitals to ensure they are positively connecting with their patients and contributing to a stronger relationship.

The 2013 Connance Consumer Impact Study survey data will be presented during a webinar on Wednesday, December 18 at 12:00 p.m. EST. Visit https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/733003822 to register.

The Connance Consumer Impact Study focused on understanding patient behavior, satisfaction, attitudes and perceptions towards healthcare bills. The survey was conducted via an internet survey in September 2013 with 500 adults across the U.S. who had recently received hospital services. The survey sampling quotas were designed to be representative of U.S. adults ages 26 and above who do and do not have health insurance. The data has a tolerance of +/- 4.4%. This is the fourth consecutive year running the survey.

About Connance, Inc.
Connance brings world-class predictive analytics and insights from hundreds of clinical settings to transform the performance of financial processes at hospitals, physician groups and outsourcing organizations. Connance solutions sustainably increase cash flow, reduce operating costs and improve policy compliance in self-pay, denial management, charity, and outsourcing processes. With clients like Centura Health, CHRISTUS Health, Florida Hospital, and Geisinger Health System, Connance is changing the expectations of financial executives. Connance is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more information visit http://www.connance.com or call (781) 577-5000.

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