The patient experience goes beyond the interaction between a doctor and the individual, it starts the minute a patient schedules an appointment and doesn’t end until they have paid for the cost of care. 

Creating a seamless process is key to building a trusting patient/provider relationship. One factor impacting the process is payment collections — this not only plays a role in the patient experience but also impacts your healthcare practice’s bottom line.

Healthcare providers traditionally address patient collections after an appointment has occurred and long after a patient has left the office. When a patient receives a bill in the mail, a fair amount of time has often passed since the time of service. This method also typically requires some effort on the patient’s part such as calling the office to provide payment details, logging onto a website to enter account information, or making a payment by mail — if paid at all. This leaves many paper bills lost in a pile with billing staff having to follow up by phone or with additional mailed reminders.

Research shows financial success is more likely if patient copays and outstanding balances are captured at the time of service before a patient departs the facility. And it’s worth it: Practices only collect 50 to 70% of patient payments after patients leave the office. It’s time to be strategic about patient collections.

There are three primary benefits to collecting copays and outstanding balances at time of service.

A simplified patient experience with time-of-service payment solutions can improve patient satisfaction along with billing transparency, support, and service — and it's achievable with a payment terminal. This creates an opportunity to communicate with the patient and answer any questions they have about the amount due. In addition, patients have the opportunity to make payments in a secure format they feel comfortable with including by credit card or even Google Pay or Apple Pay.

This option goes a long way to meeting patients in their comfort zone and ultimately helps your team forge stronger patient relationships based on empathy, open communication, and a culture of trust.

Time-of-service payments can address the amount owed for a particular visit, as well as outstanding balances.

A payment terminal can help with collection efficiency and can manage online and offline sales, refunds and payouts. Your billing department and administration team will realize several advantages, including:

By starting the collection process when a patient is in the office for care rather than the end (after they have departed), healthcare providers can get a head start and maintain a lead on their practice’s revenue.

Open discussion at the point of care means patients can ask questions and your team can provide guidance and clarity for optimal collections outcomes. Tips to improve this process include training your staff to:

While collecting payments at the time of service offers clear advantages, it’s not without potential drawbacks if not implemented thoughtfully. Here are the most common risks:

Patient friction: Patients may feel surprised or stressed if the amount requested at the time of service is unclear, inaccurate, or not well explained. There may also be patients who cannot afford to pay their full responsibility (deductible, copay, or coinsurance) out of pocket at the time of service, especially for higher-cost visits or procedures. This can erode trust and negatively impact the patient experience.

Pressure on front-desk staff: If not implemented correctly, time-of-service collections can also place additional pressure on administrative staff — who may already be balancing check-ins, scheduling, and clinical coordination. Without clear scripts, training, and support, staff may avoid asking for payment or feel uncomfortable discussing the topic, leading to inconsistent collections or awkward patient interactions.

Overpayments and refunds: Finally, collecting payment before final insurance processing introduces the possibility of overpayments and reimbursements, which create extra administrative burden and can frustrate patients if not handled promptly. For practices without integrated payment and billing systems, this can increase reconciliation complexity rather than reduce it.

To minimize the disadvantages, practices can:

Collecting patient payments at the time of service can help you reduce days in accounts receivable — and therefore improve cash flow and reduce billing follow-up. However, it also introduces operational and patient-experience risks if not executed carefully. The table below summarizes the key pros and cons medical practices should consider.

Your healthcare practice relies on patient collections for revenue. But escalating bills, confusion around amounts due and a lack of communication can put the brakes on patient response. Begin to focus on time-of-service collections and train your staff to communicate clearly and with care for each patient. The three primary benefits of time-of-service collections can catapult your practice to improved patient collection efficiency. 

A payment terminal reader at your front office empowers patients and front office staff to address in-person, time-of-service payment collection. Such a system will help you implement integrated technology that supports a simplified patient experience, reduces medical billing investment, and ultimately drives more revenue to allow your practice to continue supporting patients’ needs and create a strong provider/patient relationship.