How Intermountain Health Transformed the Patient Financial Experience

Challenge

Intermountain Health is a Utah-based not-for profit health system comprised of 33 hospitals with a net patient revenue of $8.7 billion and a Cerner EMR. With rising deductibles, Intermountain Health patients were struggling to pay their bills and needed more meaningful ways to manage financial obligations. Along with this increased financial responsibility came rising confusion. Patients referred to Intermountain from other providers often weren’t sure if their health insurance would cover the services they needed. Deductibles determined out-of-pocket balances, and patients didn’t know how much they would owe post-service.

On top of consumer confusion, Intermountain Health was carrying significantly more bad debt on its books. Collecting from these self-pay patients was a monumental task that required resources and consumer finance know-how.

Solution

Intermountain Health selected R1 Patient Bill Pay to help them transform their financial experience, offering patients a solution that was more convenient, clear and flexible than what was previously in place. The patient facing payment portal went live in 2017 as Intermountain Bill Pay.

Providing patients with the tools to self manage their bills was critical to the success of the initiative. Leadership determined that the solution must offer a convenient digital environment, remove confusion, consolidate bills for all family members and provide flexible payment terms. The solution must complement the health system’s Digital Front Door initiative, an integrated digital experience that empowers people to take an active role in managing their health. The online experience is meant to mirror in-person interactions that patients have with caregivers.

Another important requirement was better metrics to continuously monitor and improve the financial experience moving forward. Intermountain partnered with R1 to create patient-friendly tools and achieve these transformative goals.

Results

With R1 Patient Bill Pay, Intermountain Health has posted impressive results for patients. More than 435,000 users have registered to use Intermountain Bill Pay. The health system has watched Net Promoter Scores reach 40+ points, demonstrating that patients want and need to manage their own accounts. As patients have many choices for clinical care, retention has also become a critical measure for success. Increased satisfaction leads to loyal patients Intermountain can serve in the future. Intermountain has also enjoyed a 45% yield lift.

The revenue cycle team at Intermountain constantly shares metrics with their leadership so they understand the impact R1 Patient Bill Pay is having on staff, patients and the system as a whole. By tracking adoption rates, duration to satisfy obligations, patient satisfaction and other important metrics, the health system can identify trends to guide future decisions.

With help from R1, the two are now closely aligned to make a real difference for patients.