Patients ' Out-of-Pocket Payments Now Make Up 30% of Hospital Revenues

I have posted a number of previous notes about high-deductible health insurance policies (see, for example:High Deductible-Health Plans Causing Hospital Billing Problems). I was aware of their growing"popularity" due to their lower cost but was not aware, on a percentage basis, of their impact on hospital revenues. A recent article filled in some of the blank spaces (see:Because of Expanded Numbers of Patients with High-deductible Health Plans, Patients Are Now Responsible for 30% of Hospital Revenues). Below is an excerpt from it:Much of the blame [for hospital bad debt] can be attributed to the increased number of patients with high-deductible health plans (HDHPs). The latest statistics reveal that patients ’ out-of-pocket payments now make up 30% of hospital revenues. That is why hospitals desperately need strategies for successfully collecting payments from patients. And they ’re not alone.Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) reported that more than half of all workers have deductibles and out-of-pocket liability of greater than $1,000. That is the reason why clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups also need a formula for collecting the total bill from their patients....[An expert in this topic] toldModern Healthcare the increase in patient self-pay represents a seismic shift from roughly five years ago.At that time, patients paid only 10% of their hospital bills out-of-pocket and insurers paid about 90% of hospital claims....High-deductibl...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Healthcare Business Healthcare Delivery Healthcare Insurance Hospital Financial Medical Consumerism Preventive Medicine Source Type: blogs