In this era of consumer-driven health care and an uncertain economy, many practices are finding it hard to maintain their ideal levels of efficiency, cost management and revenue generation. As insurance companies' reimbursement schedules trend downward and patients are being held more responsible for their health care expenses, collecting payments from patients has become a critical part of a practice's success.

And it's being felt in the market. In a recent Medical Group Management Association survey, 73 percent of physician practices indicated that rising operating costs and declining revenue were their top two challenges. That number is up from 68 percent last year. In addition, the number of physicians concerned about collecting from self-pay patients and patients with high-deductible plans or health savings accounts rose from 50 percent last year to 60 percent this year. Without a doubt, patient collections are on everyone's mind.

The challenge of collecting payment from patients can seem difficult and expensive. The exercise of mailing a bill to a patient multiple times not only costs the practice time and money, but it often results in turning to collection agencies or writing off bad debt, which negatively impact the bottom line. So how can a practice overcome these challenges to create a positive from an apparent negative? The answer is technology.

Get your patients to pay online

Technology is everywhere -- except, it seems, in the physician's practice, where the adoption of technology has been slow. But it can play an invaluable role. Patient portal back-office applications can enable patients to pay their health care bills online, speeding collections and resulting in more dollars collected for the practice.

Online bill pay technology has been prevalent for years; consumers use it every day to pay their household bills like credit cards and utilities. But is there a role for online bill pay in health care? And is now the time for adoption of such technology? The answer to both questions is a resounding yes. Here's why:

Internet World statistics show that 74 percent of the U.S. population uses the Internet, a 138 percent growth in the last nine years. According to the 2008 Consumer Banking and Bill Payment Survey, 63 million-plus online households are now regularly paying their bills online, representing more than three-quarters of all online households. Internet-using households pay an average of 11 bills per month, and of these, 42 percent are paid online.

Shouldn't your practice take advantage of this changing dynamic?

Back-office operations in a medical practice are essential to your bottom line -- it's where you collect and process payments, handle billing inquiries and manage late or default payment issues. Efficiency and effectiveness in the back office are critical, and you need to ensure you are collecting payment for services rendered. Some practices are removing the manual labor for collections by adopting secure HIPAA-compliant patient portal solutions with back-office features. Patients pay their bills online via the practice's Web site, and the practice eliminates the cost and time associated with mailing statements and processing checks. The online payment solution securely deposits funds into the practice's merchant account.

Online bill-pay applications such as those offered by Medfusion provide value to the practice by reducing the staff time spent responding to patient questions, decreasing the number of patient accounts sent to collections and reducing statement delivery costs and collection calls. Additionally, electronic billing statements, known as e-statements, enable the practice to send statements through the portal instead of through the mail. Estimates show paper statements cost approximately 62 cents each to produce; those hard costs can be eliminated by securely sending statements via the Internet.