Leveraging Technology to Lower Costs and Streamline Your Revenue Cycle [Video]

 

On our latest episode of Roadside Live, Bridget – our dynamite Account Manager and former dental office manager – had a wonderful conversation with Ian Brown, Sr. Practice Management Consultant at Rectangle Health.

They talked about how dental offices can leverage technology to lower overhead costs and streamline their revenue cycles.

This is such an important topic as it’s crucial in making payments not only convenient for you, but for your patients as well.

Watch our easy-to-digest video below, and you’ll learn how Rectangle Health… Opens in a new window… :

• Helps you take control of your revenue cycle while making it an easy process for your patients.
• Reduces billing while improving the efficiencies and workflow of the practice.
• Minimizes person-to-person contact with payments to keep your team and patients safe.
• Gives you the freedom to discuss treatment with patients, rather than billing.

Bridget: Hey, everyone. Bridget, here from Roadside Dental Marketing. I have Ian here from Rectangle Health… Opens in a new window… . I wanted to introduce Ian from Rectangle Health. Ian helps dental providers and admin teams with payment solutions to improve patient engagement in all three phases of treatment. So we’re talking about pre-care, point of service, and after they’ve left the office. They have secure tools to help patients make payments after there’s a balance due – before there’s a balance due – whenever.

So I am so excited to have Ian here. He is one of my favorite people in the dental industry! Don’t tell anyone else I said that, okay? He’s got an amazing product; I’ve actually used it in the past. So we’re so excited to have you! Welcome, welcome!

Let me first find out from you: How was Rectangle Health born?

Ian: First of all, Bridget, thank you so much for inviting me and Rectangle Health to join Roadside today for this Facebook live interview. We’re super excited to share all the new things that we’ve been doing and what we’ve been doing for years for the dental industry. So thanks. Great to be here.

To answer your question, Rectangle Health was started as a payment processing company. Like any good company is born, we developed our program and processing from finding solutions for the doctors that we were meeting with.

We’re talking about taking payments, but also other ways, like having to build patients and the troubles that they were having, like having to send out statements and follow up. So within the credit card solutions, we developed a solution that allowed practices, kind of a rudimentary solution, to offer their patients the ability to keep their card on file, to guarantee their insurance balance, to set up monthly payment plans on their existing card, where the practice wasn’t waiting for the patient to take their own initiative to call in that transaction or put a check in the mail.

We’re really focused on a solution in the payment aspect to help reduce billing and improve the efficiencies and workflow of the practice.

Bridget: Yeah, that’s amazing because I think now more than ever bills just go in the trash. So I get an email, a text message saying that both of those saying that my payment is due, so I’ve already probably paid it. And then I get a bill in the mail. If I haven’t opted out of paper statements, it just goes straight in the trash. I don’t even open it.

That’s what we need more of. I think that leads us to the changes that you’ve seen in 2020. So specifically related to the dental industry and what you do, what’s the biggest change for you this year?

Ian: Oh, well, obviously COVID, you know. COVID has opposed significant challenges with our offices, with patients, with a lot of things. And one of those challenges is the fact that you know, people have a little bit of fear and concern with making physical exchanges with the practice. A lot of offices are looking for technological solutions to help minimize those contacts. Contactless payments have been in huge demand this past year.

Contactless payment is having the ability to take payments in the office with a device that can take a tap pay or your app pay, your virtual wallets. We’re also sort of revolutionizing the industry and giving the practice a solution in our technology and something called practice Management Bridge.

Practice Management Bridge is a payment platform and program that helps practices to process payments, posting them to their practice management software. But it has several tools that practices are able to utilize to collect payment from patients after the fact with something called balance collect, where patients can go on your website, simply click and pay online. You get a live authorization in the office. So if there’s any concern about handing their card over the counter when they’re coming into the office, you can direct them to the website.

But the revolutionary option and feature that we have introduced during this time is called Patient Express. Patient Express is allowing offices to communicate and engage with a patient before they come into the office. It allows them to send a pre-registration via text, email, or direct them to your website. Within that process, they can provide you all of their personal information, their medical history, insurance information.

So you have something to check them in, but to complete that process, they can then provide their preferred method of payment. And that allows the practice to have the freedom to have a conversation about treatment. When they’re coming in the door, talk about the process, and really minimize the conversation necessarily about taking that payment.

You’re in a position where you can talk about the financial aspect and give the patient a landscape of what they can expect during the treatment, what their responsibility is, and then making a convenient solution for them thereafter with having that card on file. So if there’s a balance post-adjudication, you have the ability to charge them in an easy and safe way.

Bridget: You could technically do all the paperwork online. If an office is doing a virtual consultation, how could they collect payment for that?

Ian: Great question. There’s a lot of that happening right now, obviously with COVID and virtual consultations.

Bridget: Not just in dentistry. It’s in all the medical fields,

Ian: Yeah! What we’re able to do is within Patient Express, the office staff member, when they’re scheduling that appointment with that patient, they’re just entering basic patient information (their name, date of birth, email address, cell phone number, etc.), and once they enter that basic information, they can then send the invitation for the patient to complete an electronic version of their registration. So they can send that via email or text message.

The patient gets a nice message from the office saying, “Register here.” You click on the link and they fill everything in electronically.

Once they complete that information, it goes back to the practice on what looks like a dashboard. And that dashboard will list that the patient has registered. They provided the card on file. When they’re coming in for their appointment, it’s a very seamless, easy, efficient check-in.

You can take your copay or if there’s a deductible amount due at that time. Treat the patient, and then when they’re walking out or checking out of the practice, there’s not a whole lot of conversation going on about payment. It’s about when is your next appointment and the treatment that you’re going to continue with, or what you can expect next.

Bridget: Some offices could even collect payment before. Because we talked about this, Angela and I talked about this two weeks ago, we did a Facebook Live on revenue cycle management. So this is the perfect topic to piggyback on that. When we’re talking about when to collect. I’m a big fan of collecting either their copay or their deductible prior to them even setting foot in the office.

They know they’re going to have to pay at that point. You’ve had a solid financial conversation with the patient to where you’re going to be collecting X, Y, Z, and then you could literally just send it to them in their car before they walk in the building.

That’s amazing. I think everybody should be doing that. And it takes me back to the days where I worked in an office and there would be one terminal. And it would be like on the other side, like somebody else’s seat. And if you weren’t sitting in that chair, you have to take care of the patient’s card over to that other chair, plug it in and, you know, and get the receipts and do all that.

What if you run out of paper in the middle of that transaction? You gotta put the paper back in and it was just such a pain. So this is an exciting product.

Ian: You’re talking about efficiency, right, Bridget? So you’re talking about giving your practice the ability to operate in a more efficient manner, but going back to what you said about patients handing you a card and taking that card and walking over to another location with their card, how comfortable are people with doing that? Right? Some people are like, “Where are you going with my card?” What we are providing is a solution to that. If they’re taking payments in the office, you have a patient-facing device or a consumer-facing device, like we’re all used to at all the retail stores that we visit every single day, that patient is able to use their phone, their tap, their credit card to process the transaction where there’s no exchange there. So you’re also limiting the risk of exchanging germs and then that payment is simultaneously posting right into that practice software. We designed our solution so that it can post into any practice management software.

Bridget: That helps with reconciling at the end of the day too. Because how many times have you had to match up the transactions to the actual physical receipts you have in your hand? If it doesn’t match those numbers, you gotta go back and sift through the receipts and make sure they match, so I like how that integration eliminates that error.

Ian: I’m glad you mentioned that because those receipts that slip, which is the settlement slip that you’re matching up with your day sheet. That’s paper. This is a way that you can eliminate a lot of the paper that you’re using.

They can be emailed to patients. You can print a copy if you’d like, but the practice receipts that are hosted in the practice are electronically stored in our systems. Part of paper being a massive usage in an office is billing. And they’re sending paper statements or sending out a receipt after you’ve processed something that was predated. So, having a card on file eliminates the need to have to send out a paper statement, stamps, envelopes. Having the solution for patients to be able to pay online can eliminate that as well. One of the best ways to engage today with patients is via text message.

We’re finding that text messages’ key to communicating our solution will allow you to send your statement to the patient electronically via text message.

Bridget: That’s amazing. I love it. I don’t know if you’re the only company that does that, but what would make someone choose Rectangle Health over another credit card processing company?

Ian: That’s a great question. You did say you don’t know if there is another company or competitor that offers these solutions that I’m mentioning, and yes, they do. The industry and technology have advanced so much that there are companies out there that offer different types of solutions. But a lot of times, offices are using multiple solutions for what I’m proposing today, and that is that you have one company that’s doing patient engagement and text-to-pay. You have one company that is doing your card on file and storing cards for you. You have another company that is processing your payments in-office. So you have three different systems and solutions, three different statements, three different fee structures, three different compliances to apply with. We can consolidate all of that into one solution, one consolidated solution in one interface.

So where that’s beneficial is not just the convenience of having everything being reported in one place, but you have one place to go for service, for questions, for support. I really want to talk a little bit about support here. Rectangle Health has been providing payment solutions for healthcare offices, healthcare providers, dental offices for 27 years.

That’s all we know. That’s all we do. We know medicine. We know healthcare and we know what it takes to take a payment, to bill a patient, and to maintain that relationship thereafter. We have people who specialize in what you do, so you have a concierge service there. That certainly helps.

Bridget: I didn’t realize you’d been around so long. That’s incredible.

Ian: Sure have. Yeah.

Bridget: If an office wanted to explore this more, how can you help them?

Ian: If an office would like to explore this, we have representatives, practice management consultants all over the country and in every city, every territory that’s out there. There’s a couple of different ways you can reach us and you can find out more information. One being our website at www.rectanglehealth.com … Opens in a new window… . There’s plenty of information on there that you can review, can learn a little bit more about what we’re doing, what we offer, and there’s ways to contact representatives on our site there.

You can reach out to us directly. We provide demos. We’ll schedule a 10-or-15-minute demo where you can contact me directly. I’d love to do a presentation for anyone who’s interested in 10 or 15 minutes of their time. I promise I’ll make it worth your while! You can reach me directly at 800-337-3630. My direct extension is 2073. You can email me at IBrown@rectanglehealth.com or connect with me in the comments. I believe we’re going to have a link to a landing page to make it so much easier where you can simply click, fill out a form, and I’ll receive the information. I’ll look forward to coordinating and scheduling a demo with you.

[Schedule a demo with Ian here… Opens in a new window… ]

Bridget: I think that was all that we had for today. Thank you so much, Ian Brown. We really appreciate it. I can’t wait to talk to you again. Thank you for joining us and we’ll have other events coming up soon. So keep an eye out on Roadside’s Facebook page… Opens in a new window… . Follow Ian on LinkedIn, wherever you can find him.

Ian: Thank you, Bridget. Thank you, Roadside! Rectangle Health is very grateful for this opportunity. Please reach IBrown@rectanglehealth.com or reach me on the landing page! We look forward to meeting you and sharing all we have to offer in the industry.

[Schedule a demo with Ian here… Opens in a new window… ]

Bridget: Awesome. Take care everyone.