Dive Brief:
- While today, many are very difficult to interpret, providers are attempting to simplify bills in an effort to increase their collections. (Complex bills make it difficult for consumers to know what is expected of them, experts note.)
- The Healthcare Financial Management Association has had a bill simplification effort known as the Patient Friendly Billing in place since 2000, but "the lack of interfaces between providers, payers and patients has made effective communication very difficult," HFMA VP Richard Gundling told Healthcare Finance News.
- One vendor attempting to address this challenge is doxo, a company which provides online filing cabinet for patients to group their billing information. doxo creates "a coordinated financial and administrative experience across providers and health insurers," said Carl Pellettieri, principal at Impact, a Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council company. (Eight hospital members of the council are testing out doxo.)
Dive Insight:
While the experts may be right that the complexity of patient bills is detracting from the likelihood and even their willingness to pay, this analysis leaves out an important point. Generally, when patients have low deductible traditional health plans, their obligations aren't very complicated. But when you introduce high deductible plans, which have complex rules for when they'll pay and when they won't, are likely to see some confusion regardless of how hard you work on simplicity. The best way to simplify healthcare billing, I'd argue, isn't to simplify the way bills are presented—it's to simplify the patient's actual obligations.