Finastra, Epic River Combine Lending Network, Compliance Technology For Patient Medical Debt Relief

See the original press release here: https://www.prweb.com/releases/2018/07/prweb15624140.htm

Lately everyone is talking about strategies for improving upfront collections, providing estimates to patients sooner, clarifying patient expectations, and so forth. All of this is an effort to improve collection of patient responsibility. With the rise of high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), providers have been forced to adjust their collections processes in order to maintain financial health. According to a revenue cycle survey conducted by The Advisory Board Company, hospitals have doubled their median point-of-service collections over the last four years.

"Eat right."

A new study by TransUnion revealed patient payment responsibility increased 11% in 2017. Of all patient out-of-pocket costs per visit 39% were over $500. When you combine this new information together with the findings from the Federal Reserve Economic Report - 35% of adults would be unable to make all of their other bill payments in full if faced with a $400 emergency.

Florida joined what has become a swift national trend towards transparency in both healthcare price and quality. According to the National Conference of State Legislators, “In the past decade, health care price transparency or disclosure has emerged as a hot topic in state legislatures, as a strategy for containing health costs. States, the federal government and the private sector have enacted legal requirements and initiated programs that aim to shed light on the costs of health care services.”

We have all had some visibility to the effects of the high-deductible health plans (HDHP); however, I'm not sure how many people predicted the behavior that many medical providers are seeing from their patients. In an article published in The New York Times, the study described numerous interviews with patients that indicated they had to make difficult decisions to put off care because of the cost for which they were now responsible. Here is one of the more shocking examples:

It's no secret that use of high deductible healthcare is on the rise, the amount of each deductible is on the rise and most patients are not prepared to pay their deductibles.  Insurance companies want the patient to have some skin in the game when it comes to their cost of care.  So much so that most contracts between providers and insurance companies specifically prevent the hospital or physician from discounting patient deductibles.

The Story Simply having insurance does not solve the challenge related to medical bills that many Americans face. It is unlikely that this statement is shocking or even surprising to most. What could be construed as shocking, however, is how far reaching the problem is and the drastic measures people go to in order to pay for medical care.