Billing and Collections

Two professional organizations representing emergency doctors warn that a new federal rule could lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for consumers when they need emergency care outside their health plan's network of providers. But consumer advocates and health policy experts say the groups' proposed solution doesn't adequately protect consumers.

The prices hospitals negotiate with private insurers vary considerably across geographies, according to a new study by the Health Care Pricing Project, driving huge variations in health care spending for the privately insured.

A new survey of hospital and health system senior executives by by Kaufman Hall found that while 96 percent of healthcare organizations say understanding patient needs is important, only 13 percent really understands what those needs are.

As hospital finance execs work to navigate pricing pressures, transitions in patient coverage and new competitors, The Advisory Board said leaders are facing several mandates to change or risk losing a lot of money.

As patients face high deductibles, price is a major topic that's put pressure on healthcare providers to offer price transparency, even though what a hospital charges can be far different from what a patient actually owes after their insurance covers some of the costs.

A new report by The Commonwealth Fund has found that a quarter of working-age adults struggle to pay for their healthcare in 2015 in the wake of rising deductibles and out-of-pocket costs.

This year, Healthcare Finance is asking its audience of healthcare finance decision-makers to help us rank the top issues with its inaugural, "Year that was, year that will be" survey.

While some carriers may see the need to instate payment guidelines, the overwhelming majority of physicians surveyed cite administrative issues and a lack of billing services to address the need for reimbursement tools as a major detraction from implementing telehealth into their practices.

According to the CareCloud Practice Profitability Index, about 59 percent of owners surveyed said they were not planning to sell or merge, an uptick compared to the 54 percent who said the same thing last year.

As more international patients are traveling to the United States to seek medical care, Boston-based Flywire has rolled out a new platform that hospitals can use to make it easier for providers to ensure payment from medical tourists.