Growth in High Deductible Health Plans Cause Savvy Clinical Labs and Pathology Groups to Collect Full Payment at Time of Service
Medical laboratories can increase revenue and reduce bad debt by using technology to verify patient ID and insurance information before a specimen is provided
Due to a need to collect payment directly from the growing number of patients with high-deductible health plans, many clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups are experiencing flat or even declining cash flow. This issue has medical lab CFOs scrambling to find solutions.
Moreover, this problem is noticeably greater in 2014 than it was in 2013. One factor behind this worrisome trend is the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As of January 1, most newly insured patients enrolled under ACA have high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) that require substantial copayments when patients receive healthcare services. Employers are also increasingly shifting their employees to HDHPs, as well.
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