High Deductible Plans and other patient out of pocket expenses here to stay ...

HEALTH PLANS WITH high deductibles are the fastest growing type of health insurance in the United States. More than a quarter of employers provide this kind of plan for their employees, and, last year, they made up 85 percent of all plans sold on the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges. These plans often save insurers and employers money — and not only by shifting more costs onto consumers. They actually result in less medical care used and, in total, cost less than more generous plans.

From a pure cost-containment standpoint, this is a victory. Generous health insurance insulates consumers from the true price of their care, encouraging overuse and driving up costs without meaningful benefit to health. That adds up — US health care spending reached $2.9 trillion in 2013, the highest in the world per capita. Unnecessary medical services cost everyone.

Enablemyhealth works to solve these surprise medical bills and help patients and healthcare organizations work together to solve these payment issues ... Upfront!

Check out more about this article ....

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/06/25/how-health-plans-with-high-deductibles-became-new-normal/06TD5uBm2oUXK2d4MMEbbM/story.html

Hospitals keeping close eye on revenue cycle vendors

As Value-based pricing, ACOs and increases in patient responsibility evolve, hospitals, imaging centers, and groups face new complex challenges ahead. This article in HealthcareITnews discusses some of this change:

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/hospitals-keeping-close-eye-revenue-cycle-vendors?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRogsqzPZKXonjHpfsX56egrWqG0lMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4GSMNkI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFQ7LHMbpszbgPUhM%3D

Solutions like Enablemyhealth lead this transformation with shared patient insurances, coordination of estimates and codes, and team based communications.

Bad Debt Increasing in Minnesota Hospitals

In fiscal 2013, health systems here reported about $687 million in bad debt, which was about 2.5 percent of the health systems’ combined revenue of $27.7 billion. For fiscal 2014, the Star Tribune analysis found bad debt grew to $766 million, a larger tally that grew faster than overall revenue. Some of the systems operate on the ­calendar year, and some end fiscal years on June 30.

Preliminary figures from the Minnesota Hospital Association show a roughly 3.2 percent increase in bad debt for state hospitals last year, as well as a nearly 10 percent decline in charity care. The net effect is that uncompensated care costs held roughly steady last year, according to the hospital association.

Moving the process UpFront with Enablemyhealth makes all the difference to let patient's know the estimate out of pocket costs and work with the hospital to arrange a payment plan. Validated patient insurance information is easily shared across groups and hospitals, reducing the costs for everyone. 

Check out the full article:

http://www.startribune.com/unpaid-hospital-bills-still-growing-in-minnesota/306704981/