Anticlue

Service the Customer

Online payment gets money to the Institution faster! This is referring to the article, Hospitals Find It Pays to Be Connected, in the Health Care Collector, November 2003.

The article points out that hospitals will see benefits in reduced telephone calls, lower postage, faster payments, and increased patient satisfaction. These are all benefits, however reduced telephone calls and increased patient satisfaction are primary benefits to any web provided service. It would be great if the hospital website was a focus of the institution as a means to provide information and services to our customers and the community. Customers for the website is broadly focused. The customers are from the family looking for local clinical trials to treat a disease to medical students studying to become physicians. The problem is these are intangible benefits, which are hard to ascertain the correct ROI to properly propose the idea and gain sponsorship. However there are key items that we strategically want to do, to improve our customer experience. For the rule is simple, treat the customer, as you want to be treated, because one day you will be a customer. And the ease of online payments for any customers in any service-based organization is very beneficial for the customer and for the institution. The customer has an easy mechanism to track and tally their bill, and a central location for finding information regarding questions. The institution decreases AR days, and frees someone's time to get something else done! To borrow a management phrase its WIN WIN :)