Get the report: The Digital Care Connection
One crucial factor that impacts patients’ ability to receive care is insurance. PYMNTS research found that while nearly 15% of consumers with insurance accessed mental healthcare services in the last year, just 6% of consumers without insurance did the same.
The size of this gap underscores how critical insurance coverage can be.
Unfortunately, having insurance is not a silver bullet. For example, policies may not cover entire bills, or patients’ preferred mental health professionals might not accept their policies.
One solution to high one-time costs is the installment payment model. While this has gained popularity for retail purchases, many patients are unaware that similar interest-free payment plans may be available for their healthcare expenditures.
In fact, this lack of awareness is common: PYMNTS’ data shows that 47% of consumers are “unsure” or “do not know” whether they can pay for mental healthcare services with payment plans.
Just 31% of patients are aware and know definitively that their mental healthcare providers offer payment plans — and more than half of these patients have used these financial solutions.
The relatively high rates of adoption and demand confirm what many would suspect: Patients feel more comfortable accessing healthcare when they know there is flexibility baked into the process.
Patients’ unawareness that payment plans may be available for their healthcare expenditures is a significant barrier to care, as the threat of high costs can discourage those attempting to connect with mental health practitioners.
Education about payment options is therefore paramount.
