Congress paused planned sequester cuts for the first three months of 2022, but they'll starting hitting docs on April 1, imaging advocates noted. 

A woman who was on the hook for nearly $227,000 in medical bills after suffering a heart attack and other complications had her balance wiped out by a medical charity waiver, Kaiser Health News reported. But that didn’t save Debbie Moehnke and her husband, Larry, the stress of mounting medical bills and calls from debt collectors, and the story highlights how inconsistent billing practices could impact other patients.

The comment period for the proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) has closed, with policy and payment updates drawing a typically mixed reaction from stakeholders within the industry.

Jason Considine, senior vice president of patient collections and engagement at Experian Health, argued at the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) conference in Orlando that providers should first rely on leveraging data and crafting flexible payment options before paying any contingency fees to collectors. He spoke with HealthExec about mistakes providers are making with their collection practices and what data they need to improve the process.

One of the most frequently discussed topics from the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) conference was the need to increase patient engagement when it comes to payment as out-of-pocket costs and deductibles continue to rise.

Among hundreds of healthcare finance professionals at a Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) conference presentation, no one could say their systems were taking on downside risk above 5 percent of their total revenue. Francois de Brantes, MS, MBA, vice president and director of the Altarum Institute’s Center for Payment Innovation, said that needs to change.

68 percent of patients with hospital bills under $500 didn’t pay off the full balance by the end of 2016, according a TransUnion Health study released at the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) conference in Orlando.

Predictive modeling has been shown to help providers assess patient risk for a variety of conditions—which is how the vast majority of hospitals and health systems have been utilizing it.