Revenue Cycle Management Glossary
A plain-English guide to the terms, metrics, and workflows that power modern RCM operations.
Patient Billing
What is Patient Billing?
Patient Billing is the back-end RCM process of generating and sending statements to patients for the portion of their healthcare costs not covered by insurance, such as copays, deductibles, and coinsurance.
Why Patient Billing is Critical for CFOs and Financial Leaders
As patient cost-sharing increases, effective patient billing is essential for maintaining liquidity.
- Reducing Bad Debt: Clear, timely billing reduces the likelihood of balances aging into the 90-day bucket and becoming uncollectible.
- Improving the Patient Experience: Transparent billing practices reduce "statement shock," leading to higher patient satisfaction and retention.
- Lowering Cost to Collect: Transitioning from manual, paper-based statements to digital, automated billing reduces administrative overhead and postage costs.
Use Cases: Modernizing the Patient Financial Journey
- Automated Patient Statements: RCM platforms can automatically trigger digital statements via text or email the moment a claim is adjudicated, accelerating the collection cycle.
- Integrated Payment Portals: Providing patients with a "one-click" mobile payment option directly from their statement significantly increases the Patient Payment Collection Rate.
Patient Billing vs. Collections
- Patient Billing: The initial administrative process of informing the patient of their balance and requesting payment.
Collections: The more intensive effort to recover unpaid balances that have moved past their due date.