Jun 25, 2014 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Uncategorized
Maricopa Integrated Health System reports that price transparency pays off by reducing uncompensated care and increasing business
Arizona has a new law that requires hospitals, medical laboratories, diagnostic imaging facilities, ambulatory surgery centers, and urgent-care centers to publish the prices they charge self-pay and uninsured patients for the 50 most common inpatient and outpatient services. The law took effect on January 1, 2014.
News accounts report that just one hospital took steps to publish its prices earlier this year. Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers will find the experience of Maricopa Integrated Health System to be instructive, as hospital administrators there publicly state that this was the right thing to do for patients in their community. (more…)
Jun 17, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Clinical laboratories can provide that missing education about CDHPs to patients
Even as enrollment in Consumer-Directed Health Plans (CDHPs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) climbs steadily year after year, a new study reveals that most physicians are unprepared to help their patients understand and better use these forms of health insurance. This is a barrier to CDHP acceptance and an opportunity for clinical laboratories.
CDHPs—and their close cousins, HDHPs (high-deductible health plans_—are designed to shift more responsibility for healthcare decisions to patients. Many physicians, however, are unprepared to advise patients enrolled in CDHPs about cost-effective treatment options. This is the finding of a 2008 survey of 525 randomly selected doctors published in the American Journal of Managed Care . Nearly half, 43%, of doctors responding to the survey admitted knowing “a little” or “not at all” about CDHPs or HSAs. At least 33% of surveyed physicians said they are “somewhat” knowledgeable. Only 24% of physicians surveyed claimed “much” or “a great deal” of knowledge about CDHPs.
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