Posted by By AHRA Staff
June 2011–Every month, a hypothetical industry and management related situation is posted. You are encouraged to share your thoughts (in the comment box below) on how you would resolve the issue. Be sure to check out others’ responses and join the discussion.
Here is this month’s scenario:
What would you do if the majority of your outpatients informed you that they could no longer afford the co-pays and deductibles at your hospital based outpatient imaging department because the out-of-pocket expenses at other, non-hospital based outpatient facilities are much less?
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I would double check exam pricing to make sure that our pricing has remained competitive. Since co-pays and deductibles are determined by each individual’s insurance company, and the hospital must make money to stay open, I don’t believe that writing off those deductibles/co-pays is a good option. How is it possible that the clinic setting could give better pricing than we do? That should be investigated and adjusted with our insurance companies. I would also ask the business office to make sure that patient payment plans are easy to set up and affordable.
I would ask for a marketing plan to be developed on why our ACR accredited hospital is the ONLY place to have exams performed since patients are paying for quality. Employees would be reminded that patient satisfaction is very important to “keep up” our patient volume.