Healthcare

The spotlight on how healthcare facilities collect on unpaid medical debts continues to intensify, with a new report from The New York Times questioning why more lawsuits are being filed against individuals who do not pay their bills and how lawmakers are now looking into solutions that would provide consumers …

One-third of individuals who have credit card debt are in that position because they used their credit card to pay for a medical bill, according to the results of a national survey that was released last week. About 10% of that group that have used a credit card to pay …

The Department of Health and Human Services has imposed a $3 million fine on a healthcare facility for violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) by not encrypting data that was on a stolen flash drive and a stolen laptop computer. The University of Rochester Medical Center appeared …

A hospital network that announced changes to its collection practices following a published report that accused it of being too aggressive, especially when filing lawsuits for unpaid debts, is being asked to hold off on all collection efforts until its new policies are put into place. UVA Health had previously …

More than half of individuals who are receiving benefits from Medicare and have had a serious illness have have a “serious problem” paying for their healthcare bills, according to the results of a national survey that was published yesterday by Health Affairs. For most of those individuals, paying for prescription …

A month after being spotlighted for its “aggressive” collection tactics and subsequently announcing it will adjust how it collects unpaid debts in the future, the University of Virginia Health System announced yesterday the creation of a billing and collection practices advisory council, which, perhaps surprising to nobody, does not include …

A startup technology company is seeking to shift the burden of collecting on unpaid medical debts from healthcare providers to insurance companies, likening the current process to restaurants being responsible for collecting on unpaid debts when customers pay by credit card. The company, Ooda, wants insurance companies to be responsible …

Mastercard, the financial services card-issuing giant, has announced the launch of Mastercard Healthcare Solutions, a unit that will provide analytics to help improve billing strategies and revenue cycle management, among other products that will be offered. The company announced the launch of the unit at a conference in Las Vegas …

Visual management boards have become scoreboards at Williamson Medical Center in Tennessee, allowing revenue cycle employees to see daily and monthly metrics to “play the game of hospital financial improvement,” according to a published report. A growing number of collection agencies have used monitors and screens in their offices to …

The collection practices at a non-profit hospital accused of being too aggressive in filing lawsuits against individuals with unpaid debts have caught the attention of the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee who now wants answers about the organization’s billing practices. Sen. Chuck Grassley [R-Iowa] yesterday sent a letter to …