Health is an important asset to human beings. Patients, physicians, medical billing companies, insurance companies, clearinghouses, all are connected in one way or another to offer quality services. Physicians are then reimbursed for their services and that’s how the process flows.

Patients are particularly free from the burden of paying for healthcare expenses by themselves when they get a healthcare plan. They just have to pay their premiums, and the rest is the work of medical billing outsourcing companies.

In recent times, the payment system in the US healthcare system has especially been under scrutiny to facilitate patients and clinicians alike.

Healthcare Costs Have Gone Up

Due to inflation and in the name of empowering patients, costs have gone up severely. Deductibles and copayments have increased, and patients can’t do anything about it as they have to maintain their monthly healthcare package in check.

Increasing expenses for care services has left patients financially vulnerable. According to an estimate, patients paid around 35% of the medical bill charges in 2019. Looking into it, this percentage is quite high as compared to the previous years.

The reason behind this is that patients have to endure surprise medical bills, and medical billing services were not to blame for this. Stats show that two-thirds of the American adults, have savings less than $1000, and it is not enough to pay surprise bills sent by medical billing companies. Believe it or not, surprise medical bills are one of the causes of making families bankrupt.

All Stakeholders of Healthcare Industry will Suffer If Not Done Something to Resolve Surprise Medical Bills

A poll conducted by Kaiser Health Tracking in 2018 reflected that sixty-seven % of the Americans are somewhat worried about bearing unexpected healthcare costs for themselves or family members.

Another study showed that forty percent of the Americans who had insurance received surprise bills in 2019.

Forty-one of the Americans showed their concerns about how unexpected it was for them to see the bill going overboard.

The problem is huge. If patients are unable to pay for the rendered services, how will physicians survive? Medical billing services will not be able to get clear bills for physicians. The inability to pay bills and deductibles has increased seventeen percent from 2012 to 2016.

The US government has also noticed this issue, and there are multiple solutions into consideration.

What is the Solution?

Negative payment cycles can be reversed if taken proper actions against it.

One way to restrict the ever-increasing cost factor in the healthcare industry is to offer customized/personalized experience for patients.

The healthcare and billing process can be confusing for patients. A professional medical billing company on behalf of physicians should demonstrate each payment clearly to patients beforehand. From the appointment session to the final bill, every step should be clear to exclude the surprise element from bills.

The first strep of accurate billing services is to precisely estimate the cost of healthcare.

Medical billing outsourcing companies should break down each step for physicians to give them an idea of what patients can bear from their health plan and whatnot.

Listing payment options is also useful for patients when comes across with out-of-pocket expenses.

Providers who work in efforts to improve the quality of healthcare and reduce surprise billing can enjoy a significant improvement in revenue cycle management. One can’t expect a sudden change in the healthcare industry, but a seamless billing process without surprise bills is only possible via offering tailored payment models based on the patient’s financial situation.