AKASA™, the only Unified Automation™ company for healthcare revenue cycle management, released findings from a recent survey highlighting the rapid adoption of automation among hospitals and health systems. The survey found 78% of health systems are currently using or are in the process of implementing automation in their revenue cycle operations - a 12 percentage point increase compared to results of last year's survey.
A price transparency rule put into effect earlier this year requires that hospitals report the cost of services online, but not all hospitals have met compliance standards. The rule requires that by Jan. 1, 2022, all hospitals operating in the United States must make available a list of their current standard charges via the internet in a machine-readable format at least annually, along with a list of 300 consumer-friendly "shoppable" services, of which CMS identifies 230.
According to a nonprofit patient advocacy organization, some of San Diego’s largest hospitals comply with new federal regulations that require medical centers to list prices online for patients to review. According to patient rights advocates, the Jacobs Medical Center at the University of California, San Diego, the Zion Medical Center at Kaiser Permanente, the Sharp Memorial Hospital, and the Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center all lack the key pricing information required by law. Kaiser rejected the group’s findings, but UCSD and Sharp sought to clarify them.
Wendy Knecht figures she's been failed twice by doctors — once by the plastic surgeon she accused of botching her breast reconstruction, and again by the California physicians lobby fighting a proposed law that would force doctors to alert patients to potential conflicts of interests.
Due to the financial stress that fell on University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics because of COVID-19, UIHC implemented a cost-saving program that helped the hospital reach a 7% operating margin allowing a one-time payment to it's employees who lost compensation during the first year of the pandemic.
President Biden is putting his foot down on a price transparency rule that many hospitals have skirted over the past seven months. On Friday, Biden released an executive order instructing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to “support” price transparency regulations issued by the Trump administration. Starting on Jan. 1, hospitals were required to post the prices they charge cash-paying customers and the rates they negotiate with insurers — figures that were largely obscured from public scrutiny.