Here are some of the best questions for a patient survey about billing transparency, along with tips on crafting them. If you want to quickly build your own patient billing transparency survey, you can generate one instantly with Specific.
Best open-ended questions for a patient survey about billing transparency
Open-ended questions encourage patients to express concerns and describe real experiences, which unlock nuanced insights into billing transparency issues. They're especially valuable when you want to understand the “why” behind patient attitudes and discover details you didn’t know to ask.
For example, 64% of patients say that cost transparency increases their satisfaction with healthcare providers—a compelling reason to dig deep and ask how patients actually experience your billing process. [1]
How would you describe your overall experience with the billing process at our facility?
What challenges or confusion did you encounter while reviewing your medical bill?
Can you tell us about a time when you felt unclear about the costs of your treatment?
In what ways could we improve our billing statements to make them easier to understand?
How well did staff answer your questions about charges or insurance coverage?
Were there any unexpected charges on your bill? If so, please describe how these were communicated to you.
What would have helped you feel more informed about the costs ahead of your care?
How comfortable do you feel discussing billing concerns with our staff?
Can you share suggestions for making our billing information more transparent or accessible?
What changes would build more trust in our billing practices?
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for a patient survey about billing transparency
We recommend single-select multiple-choice questions when you want to quantify responses or make it easier for patients to answer quickly—especially if you plan to identify trends or start the conversation with a structured check-in. Sometimes patients need a prompt to get started; structured choices reduce cognitive load, while follow-ups can then explore their answer in more detail.
Question: How clear was the billing statement you received after your visit?
Very clear
Somewhat clear
Not clear
I did not receive a statement
Question: Did you feel informed of your expected out-of-pocket costs before your treatment?
Yes, completely
Somewhat
No, not at all
Not applicable
Question: Which area of the billing process was the most confusing for you?
Insurance coverage
Breakdown of charges
Receiving the bill
Resolving discrepancies
Other
When to follow up with "why?" If you see patients choosing less positive options (“Somewhat clear” or “Not at all” informed), always add a follow-up question: “Can you tell us more about what was unclear?” These follow-ups are key for unlocking the specific pain points and can illuminate hidden friction points in the patient experience.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? “Other” lets patients highlight pain points you may not have anticipated. Follow up by asking, “Could you explain what you meant by ‘Other’?” to uncover valuable insights that standard options miss.
NPS question: a valuable metric for billing transparency
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a trusted, standardized question type that measures loyalty—a crucial indicator for any healthcare provider concerned about billing transparency. With 36% of patients considering switching providers due to poor billing experiences (such as unclear statements), NPS becomes an especially relevant measure of patient trust here. [1]
The classic approach is: “On a scale of 0–10, how likely are you to recommend our healthcare facility to a friend or family member based on your billing experience?” NPS allows you to benchmark improvements over time, and tailor follow-ups depending on whether responses are positive, neutral, or negative. Try building an NPS survey for billing transparency with this link.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions turn dry surveys into dynamic conversations. They let you go beyond the surface to truly hear what patients need and what details triggered trust or frustration. If you want to learn more about how to automate this step, check out our article on automatic follow-up questions.
Specific uses AI to generate smart, relevant follow-ups instantly. That means after each answer, the AI probes for context and clarity—just like a skilled interviewer—allowing you to gather richer, more actionable feedback in less time. Automated follow-ups save you manual back-and-forth over email, and keep the patient engaged in a friendly, conversational format.
Patient: “The bill was confusing.”
AI follow-up: “Can you tell us which part of the bill was confusing for you?”
Patient: “I didn't know what my insurance covered.”
AI follow-up: “What information would have made it clearer for you before your appointment?”
How many follow-ups to ask? Usually, two or three contextual follow-ups are enough to get a complete picture. Specific lets you set these limits, and the AI automatically moves on when you’ve gathered what you need—there’s no risk of annoying your patients with endless probing.
This makes it a conversational survey, where every respondent feels like they’re genuinely heard, not just ticking boxes.
AI survey analysis: Even though you’ll collect lots of unstructured feedback, analyzing responses is simple with AI—see our deep dive into how to analyze survey responses.
With these automated follow-up questions, you can create a survey that uncovers insights traditional forms miss—give it a try and see how a conversational AI survey feels.
How to prompt GPTs to generate great survey questions for billing transparency
If you'd like ChatGPT or another AI to help you brainstorm questions, start with a simple prompt like:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for patient survey about billing transparency.
You’ll get even better results by providing additional context—describe your audience, your specific goals, or even copy in your existing survey script for AI to improve.
We work at a community health center. Our patients often have diverse backgrounds and some have language barriers. Our goal is to ensure everyone can understand medical bills clearly and feels comfortable asking questions. Suggest 10 open-ended questions to understand how well we’re doing, and what to improve.
Next, ask the AI to organize results for clarity:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Finally, zero in on the themes you care about most. Pick the categories that matter (say, “insurance coverage explanation” or “staff communication”) and prompt:
Generate 10 questions for categories insurance coverage explanation and staff communication.
This approach ensures your AI survey questions are deeply relevant to your patients’ billing experiences.
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey is more than a form—it’s an interactive AI-powered chat that responds to what patients say, asks tailored follow-up questions, and makes feedback collection feel human. Unlike rigid forms, conversational surveys uncover stories behind each answer, and can handle complex topics like billing transparency, where patients might be anxious or confused.
If you’ve built surveys manually, you know it’s often slow, error-prone, and requires lots of trial and error. With an AI survey builder like Specific, you describe your needs in plain language and the AI suggests and refines questions in seconds—it’s like brainstorming with a researcher who never gets tired.
Manual surveys | AI-generated surveys |
|---|---|
Require manual scripting and editing | Created instantly from a plain-language prompt |
Miss opportunities for follow-up | Ask custom follow-up questions in context |
Time-consuming updates | Easy iteration via chat with the AI survey editor |
“One-size-fits-all” structure | Conversational, tailored to each patient’s replies |
Why use AI for patient surveys? AI lets you move fast, test new ideas, and adapt instantly—so you can respond to feedback before it becomes a problem. Plus, with powerful analysis tools, you turn hundreds of replies into sharp, actionable insights. For the best results, see our guide on building patient surveys.
Specific makes conversational surveys easy and intuitive, with a best-in-class user experience for both creators and patients. The result: higher participation, better data, and less frustration—start-to-finish.
See this billing transparency survey example now
Start collecting clearer, actionable feedback from patients on billing transparency with a conversational AI survey—see how Specific’s smart question design and instant follow-ups make the process smoother for everyone.