Jul 13, 2016 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement, Management & Operations
The amount of patient debt healthcare providers face depends on multiple, complex factors, including whether they engaged in Medicaid Expansion
Often the challenges facing hospitals and medical pathology laboratories are similar. So it is with patient debt. Blame that on two trends. One is the increase in the number of patients with high-deductible health plans. The other is the increase in the number of people enrolled via the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance exchanges with similar high-deductible health plans.
These two factors are contributing to increased levels of bad debt that confront the nation’s hospitals, clinical laboratories, and anatomic pathology groups. However, in some states where Medicaid programs have been expanded, hospitals have reported declines in the level of patient bad debt.
When President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law in 2010, many people thought that fewer uninsured people would mean less bad debt for hospitals. Now, six years later, the reality is not so clear-cut.
Hospitals, clinical laboratories, and other entities within the healthcare system are seeing different levels of bad debt depending on what part of the country they are in, what kinds of policies they have enacted, and probably most importantly, whether or not the state in which they are located has expanded Medicaid. (more…)
Jul 8, 2016 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Much hype has been written about the ACA’s Healthcare Marketplace and the user’s experience. Does the reality measure up to the positive press coverage? Dark Daily takes a look
One major element of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to radically alter the health insurance industry while increasing the number of Americans with health coverage. As a consequence, both medical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups have experienced significant changes in how payers contract for, and reimburse, lab testing services.
These changes in payer contracting and reimbursement are just one way that the ACA is altering the landscape of healthcare in America. From C-suite executives of the nation’s largest health systems, to working-class families seeking coverage on the so-called “Health Insurance Marketplace,” everyone has been affected.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, to date, approximately 20 million people have taken advantage of the provisions included in the ACA. However, a recent New York Times article pointed out that the reality of the consumer experience—how people actually use the ACA plans—differs somewhat from early reports. The whole thing’s turning out to be more complex than originally predicted.
Much hype has been written about the ACA. Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers should want to better understand the “real” experience for healthcare consumers after they (and providers) have endured six years of change associated with this federal law. (more…)
Jul 6, 2016 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
California insurers are building a massive health information exchange (HIE), but so far only one healthcare system is interested in participating
Healthcare Big Data is big business. But it requires large databases with complete records of many patients, including their medical laboratory test results. That’s why two big California insurers would like to build such a data warehouse, however, hospitals and physicians are wary of feeding their patient data into an insurer-organized HIE. Why? Because he who holds data, holds power.
Thus, doctors in California don’t want to give that power to health insurers. Meanwhile, hospitals and health systems in the Golden State that operate accountable care organizations (ACOs) want to protect their own ability to serve patients.
The HIE that is struggling to collect the patient data it needs to be successful is the California Integrated Data Exchange (Cal INDEX). Founded in 2014, it is an independent not-for-profit organization that was created by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California—the second and third largest insurers in the state. According to their statement, the two organizations intended to build a statewide health information exchange (HIE) based on electronic patient records that include clinical data from healthcare providers and health insurers.
By the end of 2014, Cal INDEX expected to be “providing physicians and nurses with secure, online access to approximately nine million health information records—or nearly one-fourth of the state’s population,” the statement declared. (more…)
Jul 1, 2016 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
This phenomenon is a response to the tens of millions of patients who now have high deductibles that must be met before their insurance kicks in
There’s a new wrinkle on bundled pricing for medical laboratory tests and other healthcare services. Some providers and payers are creating bundled pricing options specifically for the tens of millions of patients now covered by high-deductible health plans (HDHPs).
Patients covered by HDHPs are responsible to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket before their health insurance kicks in. Thus, it should not surprise clinical laboratory professionals that providers and health insurers are collaborating to created bundled pricing (AKA packaged pricing) options that cater to self-pay patients.
Bundling is a method in which healthcare services are grouped together for one pre-determined price. It is intended to decrease costs while providing patients with increased access to high-quality care. Clinical labs and pathology groups will need to negotiate with the organizers of these bundled medical services in order to get adequate payment for their testing services.
Bundled service options are gaining in popularity because more Americans are paying out-of-pocket for medical care. Some people have no health insurance coverage at all. Meanwhile, tens of millions of Americans are enrolled in high-deductible health plans. These patients are typically responsible for paying thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses before their health insurance begins paying for medical services. With so many people seeking more economical choices for their healthcare needs, providers, hospitals, and health insurers are exploring the options bundled pricing offers. (more…)
Jun 29, 2016 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
An earlier Johns Hopkins study looked at diagnostic errors and determined that such errors were the leading cause of malpractice payouts. Can clinical laboratories help?
At a time of heightened transparency in healthcare outcomes, a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Johns Hopkins) study makes a startling conclusion: medical errors are an under-recognized cause of patients’ deaths in the United States. In fact, medical errors rank third—after heart disease and cancer—in causing patients’ deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins statement.
This finding has many implications for pathologists and clinical laboratory managers. Often, medical errors are associated with the failure of physicians to order correct medical laboratory tests at critical junctures. Alternatively, a medical error can result if the physician fails to take appropriate action after getting an accurate lab test result. Thus, any effort within the health system to reduce medical errors will probably bring pathologists and medical laboratory scientists into closer consultation with clinicians.
What the researchers at Johns Hopkins also learned during their study is that medical error is not reported as a cause of death on death certificates. Further, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has no “medical error” category in its annual report on deaths and mortality, The New York Times (NYT) reported. (more…)
Jun 27, 2016 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers can expect that CMS will accelerate the shift from fee-for-service reimbursements to bundled payment models
It is still not widely recognized among clinical laboratory managers and pathologists that Medicare program officials are serious about moving forward to replace fee-for-service provider payment with value-based payment methods. In fact, many medical lab professionals may not have heard the news from earlier this year that one-third of Medicare payments are now value-based.
It is important for all clinical lab executives to be aware of the press release issued by the federal Department of Health and Human Services on January 26, 2015. It was the first time that the Medicare program had published goals for moving away from fee-for-service that were tied into specific dates. (more…)
