deductible plans news from FierceHealthcare
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Health plan introduces health "gift card"
If you can't afford healthcare services, why not use a coupon? That's the kind of thinking promoted by a new product from Pennsylvania-based insurer Highmark, which has just launched a new Healthcare... Read more...
ALSO NOTED: Medicare health plans say they'll mend their ways; FL hospitals pleased by PIP reinstatement; and much more...
> Contending that they're chastened by recent federal sanctions, a group of large health plans offering Medicare-based products say that they're cleaning house. Read more...
Mandated coverage: A smart idea?
Following the high-profile lead of Massachusetts, states like California are considering legislation requiring that citizens have health coverage. And in theory, that's good for providers, who... Read more...
Consumer financing boom bodes ill for healthcare
This week, a piece in The New York Times took a look at the growing consumer finance... Read more...
Hospitals collecting patient bills up front
Want to avoid bad debt? One way to do that is to simply collect what you're owed as quickly and aggressively as possible--and that's what many hospitals are doing. Increasingly, hospitals are opting to collect co-pays and deductibles at the point of care or soon thereafter, hoping to stem rising tides of unpaid bills. They're determining how much to ask for, in many cases, by analyzing not only the patient's coverage but their personal financial situation as well. Vanderbilt University …
... Read more...Study:Consumers choose cheaper services, drugs
Consumers are responding to the advent of higher-deductible plans and higher co-pays as you might expect. According to a new study by consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, patients who bear a higher percentage of the cost of health services are choosing lower-cost options for their care, such as substituting generics for branded prescription drugs or primary care visits for specialist visits. In particular, the study noted, consumers seemed to be happy to switch medications to save money, …
... Read more...The emergence of the hospital concierge
Search Google for the term "hospital concierge service" and you'll be flooded with links to such programs. Over the past couple of years, a growing number of hospitals have been running with the concept, borrowed …
... Read more...Aetna streamlines physician payments
Aetna has changed its reimbursement procedures to make billing and payment simpler for doctors. The insurer is expanding the ability of physicians to submit claims electronically, and more significantly, is setting up a program that allows plan members to pay out-of-pocket expenses automatically through their debit or credit card. (While this would apply to small co-pays, the real point is to make sure doctors don't end up with huge unpaid bills under high-deductible plans.) Aetna …
... Read more...Tenn. Blue plan offers real-time claims adjustment
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has become the latest health plan to address a key issue with high-deductible plans. Following in the steps of peers like UnitedHealth, the Blue plan has created a pilot program under which providers can find out, in real time, how much a patient owes, and collect on the spot. The pilot, which is already live in …
... Read more...Study: CDHPs lead patients to drop medications
New research funded by pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts has concluded that consumers give up medications rather than switch from brand-name drugs to generics. The study, which looked at healthcare claims for two national employers, compared prescription claims for the first nine months of 2005 versus the first nine months of 2006. The employers had kicked off CDHPs for their employees in January 2006, with one of the two employers seeing more than 20 percent of employees enroll. …
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