The cost of uncompensated care — the sum of a hospital's bad debt and charity care — has been on the rise over the past few overs. In 2000, U.S. hospitals lost about $21.6 billion, or 6.2 of their total expenses. In 2014, U.S. hospitals reported losses of $27.3 billion, according to HHS.
Although hospitals have taken measures to enhance their billing and collections processes, numerous accounts continue to be relegated to self-pay or uncollectable status when no health insurance can be verified.
There are many reasons for unverified coverage that are beyond the hospital's control. For instance, emergency department admissions prevent hospitals from verifying insurance eligibility prior to treating patients. While hospital financial counselors can capture retroactive eligibility, some patients are noncompliant with the screening process.
Many patients — with good intentions for following through on their hospital bills — simply do not understand and are not educated about their financial obligations regarding their deductible and insurance payments, which contributes greatly to noncompliance with the insurance screening process.
As hospitals face lower reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid and the need to change their payment systems from fee-for-service to value-based models, they simply cannot afford waste. Fortunately, there are solutions to reduce uncompensated care, improve internal processes and "capture the lost dollar."
Please join us for a webinar Wednesday, Aug. 5, sponsored by TransUnion Healthcare Solutions and hosted by Becker's Hospital Review, during which Michael Considine, vice president of product development of TransUnion's eScan platform, will discuss why so much money falls into bad debt or charity care, what other hospitals are doing to reduce uncompensated care and tactics to improve internal processes.
To register for the webinar, click here.