Why you should go paperless with your accounts receivable

For residents, paperless payments offer:

• Convenience: 57% of residents cited the convenience as their top reason to choose paperless payments.
• Security: Since 1 in 10 adults aged 65 or older experience identity theft each year, security is top of mind. Paperless payments can reduce credit and debit card fraud by 53%.
• Familiarity: 73% of residents see handling finances digitally as the “new normal.”

For your business, this same study revealed clear benefits of automated payments:

• Increased revenue: Senior living organizations saw an average 8% increase when accepting paperless payments.
• Lower costs: Compared to processing non-digital payments, operating costs were reduced by 57%.
• Improved cash flow: Funds from paperless payments arrive in an average of 1 to 3 days.
• Preference: 67% of seniors say they would choose a senior living facility that accepts paperless payments over a facility that does not.
• Resident satisfaction: 71% of consumers prefer paperless payments.

3 tips to streamline your A/R processes

While moving to a paperless payment processing may seem like a major undertaking, there are some key areas to focus as you move toward full payment automation. Here are key areas to focus on as you  streamline financial operations.

Embrace automation

Automation can transform A/R operations by streamlining payment acceptance and processing operations, as well as delivering complete oversight into incoming financial information and customer data. By using automation tools to help streamline financial operations, businesses can automate repetitive tasks such as data entry, invoice association, payment notifications and customer communications. Less manual processing can speed up transactions by 5 to 15%, while reducing operating costs and minimizing errors. All of this frees up internal staff to focus on more strategic initiatives such as exception handling.

Leverage technology

Technology plays a pivotal role in streamlining payment processing operations. Implementing an automated payment platform that seamlessly integrates with current business processes, financial applications and back-office systems lets your organization manage all payment activity within one solution. A centralized platform can:

• Consolidate payment information. By aggregating payment information from various payment channels, a centralized technology solution can provide a comprehensive overview of all payments from your residents.
• Automate cash application/reconciliation. With an A/R automation platform, your facility can automatically transmit incoming payment information from patients/residents to your back-office system(s) for posting and reconciliation purposes. This helped reduce billing, cash and check handling costs.
• Enhance reporting capabilities. A/R automation solutions provide detailed reporting capabilities across all incoming payment information to simplify recordkeeping and reconciliation and help you make better data-driven decisions for your facility.

Expand payment options for residents

Offering a diverse range of payment options for your residents is crucial in streamlining financial operations. By giving your residents multiple payment options, you can enhance their payment experience and also get paid faster, which can lead to an increase in collection rates and improved customer satisfaction.

Let automation help you meet resident and business needs

Automated, paperless A/R systems can deliver better cash flow and improved billing and operational efficiency for your business, while also offering fraud protection and convenience for your residents. Now is the time to explore technology that lets you improve efficiency of back-office operations to help your internal team, and a better payment experience for your residents.

*All statistics are from: 2023-shn-visa-whitepaper-f.original