Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) plans are essentially medical loans for patients so that patients can pay for expensive or elective care in the moment and pay for the care over time.
A patient is offered a BNPL plan as a payment option for health care services. The patient agrees to the terms and makes their first payment to the BNPL provider, not the healthcare provider. The BNPL provider pays the healthcare provider the full service amount (or a discounted portion) upfront, often within a few days. Then the BNPL provider collects the remaining payments from the patient over time, taking on the responsibility for managing payment plans and any associated debt.
BNPL plans are said to be similar to a high interest credit card — it’s great if you need something right away, but can be difficult to pay off, so it is recommended to do research into the BNPL lender to make sure you aren't caught by surprise later.
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) plans benefit healthcare providers by increasing patient volume and case acceptance, providing upfront payment for services and improving cash flow, and reducing administrative costs associated with billing and collections. These plans transfer the risk of non-payment to the BNPL provider, ensure more predictable revenue, and help build better patient relationships by offering a flexible and accessible way to pay for care, thereby improving operational efficiency and patient retention.
Recap of Benefits for Providers
Increased Patient Access and Treatment Acceptance
Improved Cash Flow and Predictability
Reduced Bad Debt and Collections
Operational Efficiency and Reduced Administrative Burden
Enhanced Patient Relationships
Many providers offer payment plans for expensive or elective care for the simple reason that payment plans get more patients the care they need. Other reasons to offer payment plans to patients include the following:
Offering flexible payment options can attract new patients and keep existing ones from going to a competitor.
It provides a more compassionate and supportive financial experience for patients who are struggling to pay. These plans tend to have low interest rates as compared to many BNPL plans.
Patients are more likely to pay off their balance over time through a plan than to default completely, which can lead to the bill being sent to collections. *Note that BNPL takes away the term “likelihood” as the provider is paid in full, upfront, before care.
With the rise of high-deductible health plans, more patients face high out-of-pocket costs, creating a demand for payment plans since they are paying the bulk of their expenses at the beginning of the year.
By creating a steady, albeit smaller, stream of income, payment plans can improve a provider's overall cash flow.
While nice for patients, payment plans may not be as beneficial for healthcare providers. First, the administrative burden alone can keep many smaller practices from offering payment plans. Since payment plans require staff time and resources to create, manage, and track individual payment plans somewhat or altogether manually, it can be entirely impossible for many practices to offer such patient conveniences.
Second, the risk of non-payment and lost revenue still hangs in the air as patients may be unable to complete payments and stop paying on their remaining balance. Many plans offer interest-free payment, so the labor that it takes to maintain such payments may not equal the work the practice puts forth. And sometimes the operational complexity makes any lack of technology or training a huge wrench in managing these programs efficiently.
To Rivet's innovative solutions are designed to significantly improve pre-collection of patient costs, empowering healthcare providers to accurately estimate patient costs and efficiently collect payments and get patients in payment plans sooner. Or, open the possibility of BNPL plans to patients if the cost conversation is had before care.
Rivet Patient Pricing is the solution to automate benefit eligibility verification and patient cost estimates with prepayment via email and/or text message. Patients can pay at least a down payment before services and they can call your office to get set up with a payment plan long before services are rendered.
By leveraging Rivet's comprehensive patient pricing solutions, healthcare providers can move beyond industry averages and achieve superior up-front collection rates, fostering financial stability and a more transparent patient experience.
“With changing coverages, deductibles, and eligibility, it can be hard to produce truly accurate estimates at scale. However, with Rivet, running eligibility and estimates is a quick, one-stop shop.”
— Kellie Ickowski, Audubon Women’s Medical Associates
Rivet is a modern revenue cycle product suite that gives you payer superpowers to unlock more revenue from patients and payers. Besides offering accurate patient cost estimates with prepayment via text and email, practices use Rivet to manage payer contracts and fee schedules, prepare for contract negotiations, procure payment from denials and underpayments, prevent denials, and manage revenue analytics and predictively model future revenue.
Schedule a demo with Rivet Health to see what we have to offer.
