Balancing patient experience and financial security
For private healthcare establishments, out-of-pocket expenses represent a real challenge: they account for a significant proportion of turnover, but they are also a source of complexity. Excess fees, non-nomenclature procedures, non-reimbursed devices... These amounts can quickly escalate, while remaining difficult to collect.
Between the desire to ensure a seamless patient experience and the need to guarantee cash flow, clinics are looking for a solution that is efficient, modern and simple to manage.
Out-of-pocket expenses: a recurring challenge for establishments
In most facilities, the remaining costs are paid after the operation, often by deferred invoicing. On the face of it, this is a simple practice, but it has serious consequences:
Collection times stretching over several weeks,
Unpaid rates can exceed 10 %,
Secretariats overloaded with reminders and regularisations.
Making payment more stringent (via a deposit or payment on exit) doesn't solve the problem: it creates a direct friction with the patientsometimes at the worst possible time in their care.
Establishments find themselves in an unstable balance between recovery and patient experience.
The limits of traditional methods
1. Advance payment before intervention
→ Secures cash flow, but complicates the patient experience.
Advance payments are effective on paper, but they are cumbersome to manage: regularisations, partial reimbursements, disputes. They also create a psychological barrier for patients, who do not always know the exact amount in advance.
2. Payment on departure
→ The least favourable time for payment.
Patients are tired and sometimes in a hurry. The result: queues at the secretariat, payments postponed or even abandoned. This method of payment lengthens the discharge process and puts a strain on the teams.
3. Post-intervention billing
→ Administratively simple, but financially risky.
Payment times are long, reminders are time-consuming, and some of the money is lost forever.
Changing the logic: from underpayment to integrated payment
Faced with this impasse, a more modern approach is needed: automated post-intervention settlementbased on bank fingerprints.
The idea is simple: to secure payment upstream, but only to collect once the exact amount is known, after reimbursements have been made by the Social Security and mutual insurance companies.
In practical terms, patients deposit their bank imprint at the time of pre-admission, via a secure link sent by SMS or email.
No debits are made. The patient remains free and reassured, while the establishment has a clear and traceable payment guarantee.
Once the reimbursements have been made, the exact out-of-pocket expenses are automatically deducted.
No regularisation, no forgotten cheques, no calls to follow up. Payment becomes a fluid stage in the care pathwaynot a rupture.
A lever for efficiency as well as a confidence-building tool
The schools that have adopted this model all agree that the difference is spectacular.
From a financial point of view, unpaid debts are reduced by an average of 80%The average time taken to collect cash is reduced from several weeks to a fortnight.
But beyond the figures, it's the day-to-day administration that's changing:
Secretaries no longer spend their days chasing up patients,
Practitioners are no longer afraid of late payment,
And finance departments gain in predictability.
The patient experience is also transformed: no advance payment, no card blocking, no surprises.
Change made easy by technology
Until now, one of the major obstacles to modernising payments has been the integration complexity with business tools. This is no longer the case.
Recent solutions such as Swikly integrate directly management software (Berger-Levrault, Dedalus, Calimed Santé, etc.), enabling each bank imprint to be linked to a specific single patient file.
Sending the link, 3D Secure validation, traceability and collection are all automated, with no extra work for staff.
This controlled digitalisation changes everything: it simplifies administrative work while complying with security obligations (DSP2, RGPD, 3D Secure).
The result: less friction, more control and a cashflow that breathes.
Towards a new standard for the patient pathway
Securing the remaining out-of-pocket expenses should not be seen as a constraint, but rather as an opportunity to reduce costs. natural evolution of the care pathway.
The aim is no longer simply to guarantee payment, but to make this process invisible, without any mental or administrative burden.
Establishments that have taken the plunge see a twofold benefit:
A enhanced economic performanceThanks to controlled flows and secure revenues,
And a improved route qualitywhere the question of payment no longer disturbs the relationship between carer and patient.
Conclusion: reconciling finance and fluidity
In a sector where trust and transparency are essential, the bank footprint represents the perfect balance between safety and simplicity.
It ensures the financial stability of the establishments without ever making the patient journey more difficult.
And for organisations wishing to take this step, players such as Swikly is already supporting clinics and groups in this transition, with an approach designed specifically for the medical sector: integrated, secure and respectful of care.
