3 Best Hospital Price Transparency Strategies For Compliance
Nowadays patients started demanding more transparent pricing information from their healthcare providers to make accurate decisions about their healthcare. But, healthcare organizations are failing to do so.
‘’Nearly 94 percent of medical practices were not complying with hospital price transparency requirements from CMS over six months after their implementation’’
– according to the recent report from patientrightsadvocate.org.
Compliance is termed to be an ongoing challenge for hospitals and the federal government since CMS enforced the rules at the start of 202. To avoid potential penalties with consumer demands, hospitals should be focused on complying with hospital price transparency requirements and also make sure that their strategies benefit patients in a good way.
This article reveals the 3 best hospital price transparency strategies for compliance.
3 Best Hospital Price Transparency Strategies
1. Make use of the price estimator tools
Hospital price transparency requires two things – time and resources. The healthcare practices have already reported that it took more than 100 hours to comply with the complex version of requirements in which hospitals only had to post standard charges in a machine-readable format. Some might be estimated that the new requirements will take more months and thousands of dollars for full compliance. So, the best strategy to avoid the manual work of hospital price transparency compliance is implementing the best price estimator tool.
CMS clearly states that the price estimator tools fulfill compliance requirements (as long as they are internet-based). This kind of tool should also be displayed on the hospital’s website and also allow the healthcare consumers to get an estimate of the price they must pay for the service at the time they use the tool.
Most of the popular large healthcare practices are stated using this strategy. And those who are not aware of this price estimator tool are more likely to publish payer-specific negotiated rates as per CMS requirements.
Price estimator tools for patients: Price estimator tools are also very easier to use for patients. Without this tool, patients need to search the long lists of pricing information for their services, if they have the correct codes for those services. So, here the price tool can streamline the entire process for patients.
READ MORE: Texting Patients: When & How To Do It Right?(A Secret Guide)
2. Make the right use of digital front door
The digital front door is trending in healthcare right now. The term refers to a wholly connected patient journey from registration to follow-up care using technology and patient self-service tools. For hospitals, it may also be the starting place for price transparency that caters to patient needs.
This digital front door goes far beyond compliance with the hospital price transparency requirement, focusing instead on patient needs during the financial experience. And once providers open that door, they should be focusing on creating an exit.
The digital back door supports meaningful price transparency and other front door initiatives by delivering the same level of attention and automation after a patient leaves the office.
3. Make the right use of technology and automation
Technology and automation are at the heart of the hospital price transparency requirement. However, the people behind those tools are just as important to ongoing compliance and patient satisfaction. For example, interoperability and secure flow of information between healthcare providers and payers will be critical so when a patient “shops” for services, the healthcare provider they select has access to the medical records necessary to deliver care.
Hospitals should bring together people from across the organization to craft a price transparency strategy that benefits patients, fulfills compliance requirements, and just as importantly, helps the hospital.
Healthcare consumers want timely, accurate, and trusted information to make important healthcare decisions. Payers and health plans can play a critical role by making comparative cost and quality information available to their members — even without a large market share or spending the time and resources to build a hospital price transparency solution on their own.
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About the author
With more than 4 years of experience in the dynamic healthcare technology landscape, Sid specializes in crafting compelling content on topics including EHR/EMR, patient portals, healthcare automation, remote patient monitoring, and health information exchange.
His expertise lies in translating cutting-edge innovations and intricate topics into engaging narratives that resonate with diverse audiences.
