Have a costly medical procedure coming up? Odds are, you’re going to be asked to pay ahead of time. This year, about 92% of U.S. health providers either encourage prepayment, require it or collect a payment method on file during the estimate process, according to a survey conducted by PayZen, a patient payment service provider, and the Healthcare Financial Management Association. Last year, it was 81%.
Americans are being asked to pay for costly medical procedures up front. Roughly 92% of U.S. health providers this year are either encouraging prepayment, requiring it, or collecting a payment method to have on file during the estimate process, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
Congress heard testimony that expanding direct contracting could cut costs, speed provider payments, and reduce clinician burnout, particularly benefiting rural hospitals, but the resulting drop in ED and urgent care visits would also cut hospital revenue, and related bills on facility fees and claims-data sharing drew pushback from hospital advocates over administrative burden.
Not all patient financing models carry the same risk. Recourse financing can leave providers exposed if a patient defaults; non-recourse financing shifts that risk to the financing partner instead. This one-pager breaks down the questions healthcare finance leaders should ask before choosing between the two — from who absorbs default risk to how each model affects provider cash flow and patient experience. Download it to get a side-by-side framework you can use when comparing patient...
As out-of-pocket costs and high-deductible health plans continue to rise, health systems are finding that their legacy patient collection strategies are failing to catch up
