High-deductible health plans are one of the most prominent trends in healthcare today. They make patients one of the industry’s largest payers and signal a new era of radical transparency in which patients can make care decisions with confidence.
This heightened transparency becomes increasingly important as new and complex infrastructure challenges arise — especially in the patient billing process. Stumbling blocks like rising or confusing medical bills, insurance denials, and reduced coverages continue to create frustration.
These problems tend to come after patients receive clinical care, which only adds more stress on top of their health issues. They receive the care and treatment they need but feel blindsided later because of a lack of price transparency. Suddenly, an emergency room visit they thought was costing them $100 ends up being $1,000. With such ambiguity surrounding healthcare costs, it comes as no surprise that 66% of adults find them to be a major stressor.
For this reason, Zotec dedicated itself to creating a positive patient experience — one that was comprehensive and fully integrated from start to finish. As a revenue cycle management (RCM) provider, we felt particularly compelled to create technology that made patients feel more comfortable and confident in their care.
That technology has made an impact in a host of healthcare organizations, including our work with Walmart Health.
Experience Is Everything
The world today is driven by technology and the need for greater simplicity at all touchpoints of the patient experience. Consumers are accustomed to simple and seamless experiences across all industries and platforms — whether it’s their Netflix account, Starbucks app, or healthcare.Until healthcare providers and vendors commit to developing and implementing first-rate consumer technology, the adoption of healthcare technology will remain stagnant.
When Walmart Health partnered with Zotec to offer accessibility and affordability to its customers and place them at the forefront of the healthcare experience, it did so with the goal of using technology to strengthen the patient experience and transform the way healthcare is delivered. Walmart has launched into retail healthcare in a meaningful way, prioritizing price transparency and the patient financial experience.
Its health centers offer patients affordable healthcare services — ranging from dental to counseling to primary care to optical — regardless of their insurance status. Walmart Health also provides patients with online and in-person resources on wellness, including on-site staff members to help patients navigate their care experience.
The partnership between Walmart Health and Zotec is unique in its approach to the healthcare revenue cycle in a number of ways. Zotec is empowering Walmart Health customers to make fully informed healthcare decisions with confidence and take more control of patients’ financial experiences from the first interaction to the final bill.
Key Features Create Optimal Price Transparency
Zotec’s technology offers a patient-driven platform. It connects Walmart Health patients with friction-free appointment scheduling and price transparency to empower positive digital experiences that simplify the business of healthcare. The platform’s five key features include:
Zotec provides the technology solutions and revenue cycle management services that enable Walmart to connect with patients — and multiple EMR platforms and payer organizations, employees and outside labs — empowering the company’s transformation of the changing healthcare landscape.
Walmart Health wanted to offer accessibility and affordability to its customers, so it could place them at the forefront of their healthcare experience. Zotec was able to partner in these efforts and fill that need with technology that optimizes financial outcomes for providers while simplifying the experience for patients.
A Direct Impact on Patients
It’s no secret that healthcare costs are high. More than half of Americans say they have avoided medical care due to costs. Patients have also historically lacked insight into the cost of the care they receive.
The Walmart Health-Zotec partnership aims to flip this paradigm. Our goal is to deliver full price transparency when patients schedule their appointments, empowering them to make smarter financial decisions. This kind of direct consumer insight is unique in the marketplace and empowers patients to feel less confused, more curious, and better equipped to handle whatever comes their way.
When patients understand their financial obligations before receiving services, they can make better healthcare decisions and plan for their futures. Through intuitive interfaces, revenue cycle processes, deep analytics, clear price transparency, reporting, and interoperability, our technology improves the patient financial experience and the patient-provider relationship. It also leads to better revenue cycle management practices, which plays a major role in offering the price transparency so integral to the partnership.
With Zotec’s technology, Walmart Health and other healthcare providers can see an increase in patient interaction and satisfaction, better patient intake capabilities, improved collection of charges, clear data insights on business performance, and reductions in denials and rejections.
Providers using our revenue cycle management software also see increased numbers of satisfied patients and revenue collection rates as well as decreased denials and patient calls related to outdated IDs. They also form clear data stories to support their businesses and optimize operations and future initiatives.
The Walmart Health-Zotec partnership paves the way for greater disruption in the healthcare market. Zotec’s Patient Bill Care has the potential to disrupt standard healthcare models by delivering consumer and retail-based experiences to patients everywhere. By reimagining and bringing innovation to this complex, traditional space, Zotec’s technology has the potential to be the catalyst for widespread industry change.
Zotec and the Future of Retail Healthcare
Zotec’s technology empowers healthcare providers of all types to ease financial complexities and positively impact the patient experience both inside and outside of the clinical space.Our technology can help retailers get paid like providers and help providers act more like retailers — solidifying new healthcare models for the future.Once retailers and providers alike can meet patients and consumers where they are with connected and seamless experiences, they put those consumers in a position to take control of their own healthcare journey and make fully informed decisions with confidence.
Zotec delivers Patient Bill Care technology that makes the patient the central focus in any healthcare setting and in any stage of the healthcare process, giving them more control at all stages. We also enable providers of every size and specialty to better meet patients’ healthcare expectations.
We designed an omnichannel approach that lets patients make payments, set up easy payment plans, request discounts, and give feedback. Beyond that, we text patients their bills and staff a phone center so they can reach out with any questions. We make it easy for them to communicate with us anywhere, anytime, and anyway. The revenue cycle is the only exposure patients have in healthcare to someone not directly related to their treatment, which makes it even more vital that they feel cared for in every way possible.
Offering universal interoperability with any electronic health record system, Zotec can simplify how providers engage in financial conversations with their patients — wherever they might be. The result is a more connected healthcare experience for everyone.Zotec builds custom solutions to help providers of any size and specialty, based on their specific needs.
We understand the unique differences among specialty-specific providers and have built services that let those providers navigate thePatient Bill Care experiencesmoothly — a critical piece of the healthcare transformation puzzle.
At Zotec, we believe a greater appreciation of Patient Bill Care solutions ultimately leads to better patient experiences. We understand how to be a partner to patients and providers, and we know that setting patients up for better health and financial decision-making can make a world of difference.
Our services will empower Walmart Health customers, giving them unprecedented control over their healthcare journey and putting them at the center of a connected experience from start to finish. By working together, we expand our businesses and role in the healthcare industry while continuing to pursue the important work of an improved patient experience.
If you’re interested in learning more about Patient Bill Care offering patient-focused technology solutions and revenue cycle management services, get in touch with us today. We look forward to talking with you soon.
