The Journey

The COVID-19 crisis has hit hospitals and other healthcare providers with an unprecedented “financial triple whammy” from which some may not recover. As the downturn has laid bare many of the industry’s most ineffective systems, it also presents a remarkable opportunity to embrace digital contactless innovations to survive now and thrive later.

On March 9, 2020, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), under U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its final rules on healthcare interoperability and medical record ownership and access. These rules, titled the Cures Act Final Rules, align with complementary rules proposed by the Center...

Events have converged to force healthcare in America to a tipping point. Stressed by overwhelming financial burdens, better consumer experiences in other sectors and with the support of regulators, patients are flexing their consumer might to force change and stimulate disruption. Traditional providers are taking steps to remain relevant and...

Though the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ updated Star Ratings and proposed rules on hospital price and quality transparency may be clumsy, even ineffective, their intentions are clear. The largest source of revenue to hospitals in the U.S. is setting a new, much higher bar for the way hospitals and payers help patients find and...

Making it easy for patients to pay in advance or at point of service leads to a number of well-documented advantages for both hospitals and patients. But most hospitals lack the ability to engage with patients in a meaningful conversation about price, affordability and payment when it matters most.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has proposed far-reaching new rules requiring hospitals and health plans across the U.S. to make prices for many of their more common procedures available to the public. The industry is realizing that this alone will not empower patients with the tools they need - and finding patient-first ways to...

Several prominent healthcare providers and investors have been featured in recent, damaging national news stories about patient billing and collection tactics. But some hospitals are learning that improved transparency and communications make it possible to partner with patients to increase revenues and burnish their reputations.

The financial impact of cancer treatment can be so severe for patients and their families that it’s been described as “financial toxicity”. For oncologists, a thoughtful patient financial strategy is critical to patient and provider well-being.

Patients are struggling to pay their portion of healthcare costs, discouraging care and placing a crippling bad debt burden on healthcare providers. These financial stressors call for new approaches to better engage with empowered patient-consumers on their terms.

Patients in the U.S. Healthcare System are forced to work with archaic systems that have not kept pace with changing economics and a much more demanding healthcare consumer. Bridging the gap between what patients expect and what they actually get calls for urgent but readily achievable action.