February 21, 2019
Frequently Asked Questions about Billing at St. Peter's
Can I pay my bill online?
Yes. You can pay your bill through our newly improved St. Peter's Health Payment Portal at www.sphealth.org. Once you set up your Payment Portal account, you can view your current balance, pay off all balances or pay a specific bill.
What new features within the Payment Portal make it easier for me to pay my bills?
In response to great feedback from many of our patients, we improved several aspects of the Payment Portal:
- You can now pay bills with multiple charges, across several accounts, in one online session.
- You can set up automatic payments.
- You can receive text or email notifications when a new charge is posted to your account.
Can I find out how much my visit/procedure/care will cost ahead of time?
For most planned procedures and routine visits, we can provide a close estimate in advance. Price transparency is important to our patients, and we pride ourselves on having some of the lowest charges in Montana. You can find a list of charges for most common procedures and tests on our website or by calling (406) 447-2828. Please remember:
- Your exact out-of-pocket expense depends on your insurance plan. We encourage all patients to contact the insurance carrier directly to better understand copays and levels of coverage.
- It is difficult for us to provide cost estimates for inpatient stays or emergent visits due to the complexity of care delivered.
- While annual wellness exams and preventative screenings like colonoscopies may be covered in full by insurance, additional care or treatment you receive at that visit (because of a diagnosis or finding, for example) may result in an unplanned charge.
When can I expect to receive my bill?
We have reduced the average time it takes to receive a bill to 47 days after the date of care. This is now on par with other Montana hospitals (and in some cases, it’s quicker!). Patients may still experience billing delays, but it is largely due to a delay in insurance processing. We’re working to improve our communication so that when we learn an insurance payment may be delayed, we can notify the patient that there will be a delay in receiving their bill.
How long do I have to pay my bill?
You will receive four statements and you have 120 days to pay your bill or set up a payment plan. If you would like to set up a payment plan, please contact our financial counselors in Helena at (406) 447-2828 or meet with a counselor between 8:00am and 5:00pm, Monday through Friday, at the St. Peter’s Health Regional Medical Center.
What is St. Peter’s doing to improve their billing?
We have improved the timeliness and accuracy of our bills by completely rebuilding our billing process and optimizing our billing technology. We have also increased patient satisfaction through improvements to our customer service program. We still have work to do to deliver a gold standard patient experience. This year, we are focusing our efforts on the following additional improvements:
- Notifying patients when there is an anticipated billing delay.
- Proactively communicating with patients about additional charges at the time of appointment/visit/care.
- Expanding our efforts to provide charge amounts to patients in advance of their appointment/visit/care.
- Increasing training and personnel dedicated to ensuring charges are entered correctly to reduce billing delays.
- Continuing to work with our billing call center employees to improve customer service.
Click HERE to view a billing infographic and access a PDF version of our FAQ.