Our current economic downturn is affecting all Americans in one way or another, whether it be a small or large impact, yet research shows consumerism is up!
Consumerism within the healthcare industry has seen a rise over the last year and is quickly gaining speed. I recently read an article published in Inside Consumer Directed Care (volume 7, number 7, April 3rd 2008, pages 5-6) which highlighted two interesting findings – 1) use of prescription comparison tools have spiked considerably within the last 6 months, and 2) employee contributions to their HSA have increased, despite employer contribution decreases in the last year. These two findings are not only interesting, but show the incredible growth seen within consumer directed (or driven) healthcare.
This article references that web-based prescription pricing tools from various companies have seen an increase in daily hits of 30% in comparison to last year and site traffic has jumped approximately 144%. We at HealthEquity have also seen similar usage spikes with our own prescription pricing comparison tools. What’s amazing about this is the return of patient responsibility. It’s a patient’s responsibility to fill the prescription their doctor has prescribed. In good economic times, to pay what the cashier tells them to pay. Now the responsibility for seeking out alternative drugs and prescription coupons is gaining significant popularity. HealthEquity’s real-time prescription pricing comparison tools have shown to be one of our most popular locations within our member portal. We have laid the groundwork for our members to continue to manage their healthcare finances responsibly, in turn improving their health equity.
The second portion of this article relates to the decrease in employer contributions to their employees Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s). Despite many companies cutting back costs by lowering their contributions to HSAs, many more employees increased their personal contributions throughout all of 2008. Times are tough, but many individuals and families are seeing the intrinsic value in HSAs which not only instill patient responsibility, but also ensure they are getting the right education from their doctors on treatments and costs, and can in turn do their own research for care alternatives with lower costs with equal quality of treatments. Not to mention, HSAs provide terrific ways to contribute, save, grow and spend your dollars—all tax free!
This report makes me hopeful that the work we have been doing in educating individuals and families on the importance of taking back control of their health and wealth is actually making a difference. We’re a long ways away from our goal, but this report is a great indicator to a bright future for HealthEquity and Americans alike.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Hospitals Forced To Become Bill Collectors
High deductibles mean more unpaid bills, so hospitals are reaching out earlier.
By CHEN MAY YEE, Star Tribune
When I read the above mentioned article yesterday morning from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, I thought it was an April Fools’ Day joke. Then I read the challenging personal story in the article about a family people being “shake(n) down” by hospitals about how they are plan to pay for services in advance of having services rendered, I realize that the article is serious. However, I still think it is a JOKE that hospitals and other providers of medical services are immune from normal business practices such as properly billing people and properly collecting payment from people.
From my early education and training in medical school and my surgical residency through my own surgical practice, I have been amazed at the incompetence that medical providers have in running a business. I know that much of this incompetence in rooted in the fact that few physicians have any formal business training and that for the last 50+ years our country has become increasingly addicted to a third-party payment system that has invented such non-sensical things such as co-pays, pre-existing conditions, and in- and out-of-network physicians. However, my medical colleagues also shop, fuel, eat, fly, sleep, and recreate at the same places you and I do. I am sure that most doctors have just as high, if not higher expectations about what constitutes good customer service and a well-run business than the average bird, but somehow, it is lost in their own businesses.
Why can’t people that go to doctors’ offices, labs, radiology centers, and hospitals have a similar experience when it comes to purchasing goods and services that they to when they go to pharmacies—let alone every other business we patronize? Shouldn’t it be required that in all elective care situations, including the C-section delivery as mentioned in the Star Tribune article, that people get a sense of what things will cost and the provider gets a sense of how the patient/consumer plans to pay for those services? This is not a problem with high-deductible or HSA-type plans. This is a problem with medical providers and most (not all) insurance companies that are either unable or unwilling to help people know how much to pay for goods and services when they are rendered. The vast majority (80% or more by our calculations) of people with an HSA will not hit their deductible and therefore require any payment to the medical provider by the insurance company in any given year. That means that the vast majority of medical transactions can be concluded at the point of service between the medical provider and their patient/customer at the time service is rendered.
The benefit if fixing this single problem in health care would be enormous. Huge administrative (people, paper, and postage) cost savings—all of those annoying EOBs and other bills could be reduced or eliminated. Medical providers would get most of their money much sooner. This fact, coupled with medical providers’ share of the administrative savings may lead to them to lower their prices or being able to invest in a better experience with shorter wait times and more one-on-one wait times with their patients. Patients that know the cost in advance of spending may choose less expensive, but equally efficacious options. Overall, cost will go down if medical providers, insurance companies, and the government (I think there needs to be a law requiring transparency on price and quality available for the patient at the point of care) work together to solve this problem.
This is no April Fools’ Joke—we must fix this problem ASAP!
By CHEN MAY YEE, Star Tribune
When I read the above mentioned article yesterday morning from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, I thought it was an April Fools’ Day joke. Then I read the challenging personal story in the article about a family people being “shake(n) down” by hospitals about how they are plan to pay for services in advance of having services rendered, I realize that the article is serious. However, I still think it is a JOKE that hospitals and other providers of medical services are immune from normal business practices such as properly billing people and properly collecting payment from people.
From my early education and training in medical school and my surgical residency through my own surgical practice, I have been amazed at the incompetence that medical providers have in running a business. I know that much of this incompetence in rooted in the fact that few physicians have any formal business training and that for the last 50+ years our country has become increasingly addicted to a third-party payment system that has invented such non-sensical things such as co-pays, pre-existing conditions, and in- and out-of-network physicians. However, my medical colleagues also shop, fuel, eat, fly, sleep, and recreate at the same places you and I do. I am sure that most doctors have just as high, if not higher expectations about what constitutes good customer service and a well-run business than the average bird, but somehow, it is lost in their own businesses.
Why can’t people that go to doctors’ offices, labs, radiology centers, and hospitals have a similar experience when it comes to purchasing goods and services that they to when they go to pharmacies—let alone every other business we patronize? Shouldn’t it be required that in all elective care situations, including the C-section delivery as mentioned in the Star Tribune article, that people get a sense of what things will cost and the provider gets a sense of how the patient/consumer plans to pay for those services? This is not a problem with high-deductible or HSA-type plans. This is a problem with medical providers and most (not all) insurance companies that are either unable or unwilling to help people know how much to pay for goods and services when they are rendered. The vast majority (80% or more by our calculations) of people with an HSA will not hit their deductible and therefore require any payment to the medical provider by the insurance company in any given year. That means that the vast majority of medical transactions can be concluded at the point of service between the medical provider and their patient/customer at the time service is rendered.
The benefit if fixing this single problem in health care would be enormous. Huge administrative (people, paper, and postage) cost savings—all of those annoying EOBs and other bills could be reduced or eliminated. Medical providers would get most of their money much sooner. This fact, coupled with medical providers’ share of the administrative savings may lead to them to lower their prices or being able to invest in a better experience with shorter wait times and more one-on-one wait times with their patients. Patients that know the cost in advance of spending may choose less expensive, but equally efficacious options. Overall, cost will go down if medical providers, insurance companies, and the government (I think there needs to be a law requiring transparency on price and quality available for the patient at the point of care) work together to solve this problem.
This is no April Fools’ Joke—we must fix this problem ASAP!
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