The Risks of High Deductible Plans

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We have provided past guidance to healthcare consumers regarding the financial risks associated with high deductible health plans. These health plans were intended to be paired with health savings accounts (HSAs) which would allow the consumer to save money on a pre-tax basis to pay for their annual healthcare out-of-pocket costs.

Unfortunately, only a small fraction of consumers with high deductible plans actually has an HSA. In a recent post, we have highlighted recent data that showed the buildup of $88 billion in medical debt. The link below documents the result of this situation by indicating that the majority (58%) of hospital bad debt now relates to the out-of-pocket costs of insured patients. This confirms that many healthcare consumers are selecting the wrong health plan for their circumstances.

https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/high-out-pocket-costs-are-negatively-affecting-revenue-cycles#.Yw-iWN_h53U.linkedin

Heroes And Villains: Healthcare Price Transparency Issue Reaches CBS’s 60 Minutes

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If Mr. Becerra is confirmed as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services, it is likely that the issue of healthcare pricing regulation will be high on his agenda. Healthcare leaders could be viewed by the public as “heroes” instead of “villains” by addressing this issue before that occurs.

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A Mom’s Perspective: A Surprise Medical Billing For COVID-19 Tests

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In this day and age, my account in their system includes all of my insurance information. I don’t understand 1) how they could not have already known about this problem; 2) when they are inputting the test into their system, why it doesn’t alert them to an out-of-network laboratory; and 3) why they didn’t provide me with that information, so I could decide whether or not to go ahead with the tests.

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A Mom’s Perspective On Price Transparency: How Much Is This Going To Cost?

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The healthcare industry needs us just as much as we need them. As healthcare consumers have more control than we ever thought possible. We can take back control and demand the transparency of healthcare prices.

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The Beginning Of The End Of Fee-For-Service Medicine: Chapter 2 – Price Transparency Is Here To Stay

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Value-based pricing and vertical integration of insurers and providers may be the models of the future. But the bridge to getting there is long and needs to provide a “soft landing” for the healthcare industry. The first step in building that bridge is fee-for-service price redesign and transparency. The technology exists to provide better fee-for-service price transparency, simpler pricing models and more alignment of price to the cost of service.

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The Beginning of the End of Fee-for-Service Medicine

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If ever there was a time for a new healthcare payment paradigm, the time is now. Healthcare providers can no longer rely upon an outdated fee-for-service payment model to provide long term financial health for their organizations. They need to consider an immediate redesign their operating revenue portfolios to (1) better align their fee-for-service prices with actual cost; (2) convert more of their physician services to managed risk and value-based care arrangements; and (3) consider strategic alignments or potential mergers with health insurers of scale in their markets.

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