A patient access solution can provide your patients with communication and price transparency, leading to higher satisfaction rates.
Surprise billing (i.e., a patient receiving an unexpected bill for healthcare services) is very much a reality for many patients for a myriad of reasons.
Root Causes
In emergency situations, patients have little say when an ambulance arrives to dictate which emergency department to be rushed to or which doctors provide care. Similarly, patients don’t have any say in which ambulance company provides their ride to the hospital. And, even though the hospital is in-network, the doctors providing the care may be out-of-network, resulting in a surprise bill. A study conducted by Yale researchers found that of 1 in 5 emergency visits, patients attended in-network hospitals but were treated by out-of-network physicians.
Undergoing a common surgery provides another opportunity for a patient to receive a surprise bill. A recent study, published in JAMA, found that among commercial-insured patients who underwent common in-network surgery, 20% of these procedures involved out-of-network charges. “These findings suggest that, in surgical settings, the problem of out-of-network billing is not restricted to a single specialty or setting. Surgical care is inherently multidisciplinary and requires a team of clinicians with payer contracts that are rarely intentionally coordinated,” researchers said in the study.
The Narrow-Network Phenomenon
In some geographic markets, the availability of certain specialists may be limited. In other cases, a few providers may enjoy having a monopoly power in particular areas. As a result of these scenarios, insurance plans don’t have much negotiating power, so these providers remain out-of-network. When health plans don’t contract with these providers, they are ‘narrowing the network’ of available providers.
Out-of-network providers charge more for their services than in-network, but in the case of anesthesiologists and emergency medicine physicians, charges are about five times greater than the equivalent Medicare payment. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey showed that 40% of patients have received a surprise bill in the last 12 months and an alarming 67% said that receiving a surprise bill would be a serious cost concern.
Can Legislation Enforce Change?
As consumers are responsible for more and more of their healthcare, the issue of surprise billing is not going to be alleviated so on July 1, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the first in a series of rules aimed at protecting patients from, "increased financial hardships stemming from surprise medical bills." The proposed rule takes effect January 1, 2022.
What Can You Do?
As a provider, be completely transparent with your patients. If there’s a chance an out-of-network provider will be part of their care, inform them ahead of time so they know what to expect. Even if you can’t communicate costs or specific details, just simply informing them of the possibility will improve your patient satisfaction.
Second, if you don’t have processes in place to provide patients with the transparency they are demanding – around coverage benefits and costs – consider looking into a patient access management platform. The right platform will empower your staff to inform patients up-front while leading to higher patient satisfaction scores and increased reimbursement. Need help getting started? Let's Talk!
