Most hospital leaders have never paid one of their own bills. It’s worth trying. Pull out your phone, open your hospital’s website, and try to pay a bill the way a patient’s adult daughter would: on her phone, with no account and no statement in front of her.

That’s increasingly how bills get paid. Consumers have moved most of their bills online: just 7% of bill payments were made by check in 2024, down 12 percentage points from 2020 (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, 2025). And the person paying often isn’t the patient. 58% of family caregivers help manage finances, “such as paying bills or filling out insurance claims” (Caregiving in the US 2025).

These five questions show how well your bill-pay experience works for that person.

1. Can they pay by text link?

A text reaches the payer on their phone the day the bill is ready, instead of after a print-and-mail cycle. If your first notice is still a paper statement, every payment starts weeks later than it needs to.

2. Can the guarantor easily access and pay the bill?

The guarantor is the person responsible for paying the bill, and it’s often not the patient. They should be able to open the bill and pay it in a few taps, without needing the patient’s portal account. If paying means creating an account or calling for help first, many guarantors stop there.

3. Can they set up a payment plan online, without calling?

About one in five adults (21%) are paying off medical or dental bills over time directly to a provider (KFF Health Care Debt Survey, 2022). If setting up a plan takes a phone call, families who can’t pay in full often wait instead.

4. Can they pay on behalf of a family member?

Guarantors are often paying for someone else: a parent covering a child’s visit, or an adult child handling a parent’s hospital stay. Among adults with health care debt, nearly half say at least some of it came from someone else’s care (same source). Check whether your site makes it easy for a guarantor to find and pay a family member’s bill.

5. Is there a digital option at all?

This is the baseline. If mail or phone is the only way to pay, every balance depends on a correct address and on someone calling during business hours.

How did you score?

If you answered no to two or more, your billing is likely missing the person who pays. Each “no” is a place where a willing payer can stall.

See what passing all five looks like

Visit our patient experience page to see what your patients would experience. Then book time with us to see how your hospital compares.