Janna Mullaney, Chief Operating Officer of Eyecare Services Partners, a large ophthalmology and optometry practice group, recognized the shift toward an increase in patient financial responsibility in healthcare. Technology had arrived, and Eyecare Services Partners needed a solution to keep pace with changing patient expectations and the shift in revenue flow.
In 2025, Eyecare Services Partners adopted Inbox Health’s automated patient billing solution. The technology platform has been embraced by both staff and patients alike and quickly led to measurable results, including a boost in collection rates, faster payment speeds, improved staff efficiency, and improved patient satisfaction.
Pain points prior to using the Inbox Health patient billing solution
- Lack of innovation. Patient billing was a paper process that focused on sending statements every 30 days.
- Slow payment cycles and poor patient engagement. Patients would wait 5-6 months before responding to bills, creating a stall in revenue for practices. Since statements were sent 30 days after a visit, patients were not opening their statements. By the time they received a communication, they had forgotten the details about their visit.
- Inefficient staff operations and frustrated patients. Staff were in defense mode when they were having conversations with patients, and spending a lot of time reminding them about the details of their visit. On the patient side, the consumer was frustrated and confused due to the long time lapse from the visit to payment.
- Larger share of financial responsibility shifting o patients. Eyecare Services Partners serve of large portion of Medicare Advantage patients, which puts a large burden of the financial outcome in the patients’ hands.
“We really had to find a solution that was going to help us get past the paper-driven billing solution,” Janna says. “We were looking for a partner that offered automation and new technology and had a roadmap for future investments.”
Financial performance and ROI
Adopting Inbox Health’s automated patient billing solution yielded quantifiable financial benefits for Eyecare Services Partners immediately. Automated statement delivery eliminated paper-based processes, patients were engaging with their statements faster, and a simplified digital messaging met patients on their preferred channels.“We collected more in the first eight and a half months of this year than we did in all of 2024,” Janna says.A variety of measurable outcomes justified the technology investment. Collection rate jumped to 93% (previously mid-80%) and payment speeds reduced to 30 to 45 days versus five and six months.
Beyond financial gains, it’s made their team more efficient.
“It’s given us extra tools to get in front of the patients faster and allowed us to communicate with the patient while they still remember what their eye exam was all about,” Janna says. “Utilizing technology puts us into the patients’ realm. Patients are using text messages and emails. They are not using paper anymore, and we needed to be in that space.”
When patients call with questions, the conversations are more proactive and less defensive. Staff are not spending time reminding patients about their visit, but instead getting to the point faster and having more pleasant conversations about what patients owe and how to pay. Technology has made the team’s jobs easier.
“Utilizing Inbox Health has created a behavioral change the patients and our staff,” Janna says. “Our patients had trained us to not expect them to pay until at least six months. Now we’re retraining our patients’ expectations to pay within three months.”
Core Inbox Health features driving results
- Automated statement delivery: Eliminating the previously manual, paper-based process
- Real-time billing: Statements are sent immediately after visits instead of every 30 days
- Multi-channel communication: Reaching patients where they actually engage – through text and email
Partnership with Inbox Health
Janna reflects on the partnership with Inbox Health as one that has been flexible and collaborative since day one, emphasizing communication has been exceptional throughout the relationship.“With Inbox Health, we found a sophisticated partner that can adapt and grow with our needs” Janna says. The partnership goes beyond providing software – it’s also about innovation and developing a roadmap together.
Janna views Inbox Health as an extension of their team that directly benefits its operations and goals.
“This is your opportunity to become a superhero,” Janna says. “It’s your opportunity to take that one issue that’s holding you back from getting to that pinnacle of where you’re trying to be and deploy technology so that at that next meeting, you get to present that you’ve hit that success number that you were striving for.”
About Eyecare Services Partners
Janna Mullaney, Chief Operating Officer
Specialty: Multi-brand ophthalmology/optometry platform HQ’d in Dallas, Texas
Practice size: 75+ locations, 170+ providers, ~528k appointments/year, ~109k surgeries/year