Hospitals looking to push their statement processing services online have a new tool at their disposal from Healthcare Management Systems, Inc.
The Nashville-based developer of IT solutions for clinical and financial hospital information systems has added online bill paying to its existing services, allowing hospitals to send electronic bills and statements and receive online payments – all while promoting a greener environment.
“When a patient receives a professional bill and has the ability to pay their bill online at a time that is convenient for them, that’s when hospitals begin to set themselves apart and become more competitive,” said Randall Cothron, vice president of professional services for HMS, in an Aug. 4 press release announcing the new service. “Our online bill pay product creates a particular advantage for the facility by allowing patient payments entered through a hospital’s web portal to be automatically updated in their HMS Patient Accounting solution.”
“With today’s hospitals concentrating on effectively managing expenses in tough economic times and a country focused on its healthcare system,” added Tom Stephenson, president and chief executive officer of HMS, “our launch of these online financial services is timely and further evidence of our commitment to helping our customers achieve new levels of efficiency and productivity.”
Company officials say the new service is already being used by several healthcare providers, including Thayer County Health Services in Hebron, Neb., which was one of HMS’ pilot sites.
“The new HMS online offerings are a vast improvement over our previous solution,” said Michael Pracheil, Thayer’s chief financial officer. “Now our patients can click a link on our hospital website and see past bills, set up recurring payments or make a one-time ACH transfer or credit card payment. Our hospital staff has access to the same information so they can work with patients to set up electronic payments over the phone.”
“Moreover, these online solutions integrate with our existing HMS hospital information system so online patient payments automatically post and show up in day-end, thereby increasing efficiency,” he added.