The Journey

Several familiar themes emerged at the J.P. Morgan Annual Healthcare Conference in San Francisco last week, affirming the growing influence of patient consumerism and the importance of leveraging technology to reduce costs and improve care. Highlights provide an early glimpse into the early stages of healthcare’s transformation in America.

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.

Physicians and other clinicians represent an important and often overlooked constituency in the debate about healthcare price transparency. With rising out-of-pocket costs causing patients to avoid, delay or ration care, doctors need information about price to design treatment plans their patients will actually follow.

Most of us are familiar with the aphorism, “You have to spend money to make money”, but many health systems and hospitals have relied primarily on cost cutting to preserve deteriorating operating margins. As consumerism in healthcare continues to expand, providers must invest to improve efficiencies, engage consumers and drive growth.

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...

The American healthcare industry is being called on to deliver more - more value, more satisfying patient experiences and ultimately, real patient transparency. By integrating clinical, financial and administrative functions, providers are finding that answering this call is the key to their own long-term success.

When Healthcare Revenue Cycle Executives were asked what their top five pain points were, their responses painted a picture of an industry struggling to adapt to today’s increasingly consumer-driven marketplace and frustrated with the performance of existing systems. Some trailblazing providers are elevating revenue cycle and forging innovative...

Fueled by America’s ageing population, growing occurrences of chronic disease and the high cost of healthcare, Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs) are wielding their reputation for better patient engagement and lower cost to attract a growing share of the healthcare market. Hospitals and other full-service providers are finding new 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.