France is studying ways to make it easier for patients to pay their hospital bills, by streamlining the financial workflow in hospitals. The Simphonie project ran tests in 30 healthcare organisations, to study the interactions between patients and financial administrations. It recommends increasing the efficiency of organisations, and the use of gentle nudges to help patients pay hospital bills, mostly small amounts, on time.
Simplify the administrative route and remove payment barriers, the General Secretariat for Modernisation of Public Action (SGMAP) wrote on 27 January. In general, hospital costs are handled through social security and health care insurance, but patients generally need to pay some costs directly. The amounts are modest, SGMAP writes, mostly under EUR 20, but non-payment is a problem that is affecting hospital financing.
It should be made easier for patients to pay these invoices before they leave the hospital, recommends the Simphonie programme. The queues should be reduced, the amount of paperwork required to complete a transaction should be minimised and patients should be encouraged to bring a payment card or checkbook when coming to the hospital.
The Simphonie programme has few more practical suggestions. Examples include improving signposting and making staff aware that some costs are not covered by insurance. Invoices should also be clearly labelled as such, SGMAP reports.
The project involves three central government agencies: the Directorate-General for Health Care, the Directorate-Generale of Public Finance and SGMAP.