Healthcare Payment Pains Push Patients to Digital Portals

PYMNTS’ latest research on the healthcare space shows that 3 in 4 United States consumers made at least one payment for a healthcare product or service in the past 12 months, and many experienced at least one pain point in the process. Although consumers still make many of these transactions in person, online portals are quickly becoming the preferred option.

In the past year, 29% of consumers used a digital portal to pay a medical bill at least once, and 25% considered digital portals their most-preferred way to pay. Despite this significant shift from in-person and other traditional methods, paying for healthcare products and services too often remains challenging and confusing.

“The Digital Platform Promise: How Patients Want to Streamline Healthcare Payments,” a PYMNTS and Lynx collaboration, surveyed 2,515 U.S. consumers to understand their shifting preferences when paying for healthcare products and services and the drivers behind them.

More key findings from the report include the following:

• In-person payments for healthcare products and services remain prevalent, but digital portals are quickly becoming the go-to choice for consumers.

Seventy-five percent of U.S. consumers made at least one healthcare payment in the previous year, with 29% paying through digital portals, making this a more common channel than traditional methods such as mail and phone payments. Additionally, 25% of consumers prefer digital portals and in-person payments equally, with millennials and Generation Z consumers showing an even stronger preference for these digital alternatives.

• More than half of consumers encounter friction in the payments process for healthcare products and services.

The process of making healthcare payments is less than seamless. We found that 54% of consumers experienced at least one pain point in the past 12 months. Twenty-one percent found the payment process difficult, 18% found medical bills confusing, 8.8% had concerns about the security of their information and 6.2% found their preferred payment methods unavailable.

• Online healthcare portals are more popular than ever, and most consumers who use them report high satisfaction levels.

Seventy percent of consumers who use digital healthcare portals to pay their medical bills were extremely satisfied with their experiences. Similarly, 64% of those who use these digital portals reported high satisfaction with tracking their medical invoices and insurance payments on these platforms.

To learn more about how consumers view payments and digital platforms in the healthcare space, download the report.