Tag: patient portal
Other blog posts in this series: Segmenting your patient population for the COVID-19 vaccine Engaging patient segments with convenient, secure scheduling solutions The patient portal can play an important role in COVID-19 vaccination efforts, allowing patients the ability to both schedule their vaccines and keep track of where they are in the process, at least for those vaccines that require more than one dose. We interviewed Victoria Dames, senior director of product management at Experian Health, about how providers can authenticate portal access with automation, while also protecting patient identities. As portal traffic increases, what are the authorization concerns? Many providers who are supporting the mass vaccination sites are leveraging their existing patient portals to schedule patients for the vaccine. As providers are now seeing individuals sign up for portals at scale it can difficult to ensure that the individuals being granted access to the portal are in fact who they say they are. That is a huge concern knowing the patient portal contains PHI that is commonly a target for fraudsters. What are the benefits of automating portal enrollment and access? Automation alleviates two things. First, it provides an industry-wide level of security and assurance. It provides the market standard for identity proofing before granting access to a patient record. Second, it alleviates a lot of the administrative burden put on provider staff. Automating portal enrollment allows staff to focus their attention on other, more important efforts. And, for portal enrollment at this magnitude, automation really is necessary. Providers are seeing individuals going back multiple times to the same portal, signing in more than once and sometimes with multiple log-ins, just to schedule an appointment for a vaccination. Our recent survey on patient access found that 54% of patients are concerned about security when accessing their personal details online. From a provider’s perspective, does having a system like this help with the objective of making patients feel more secure? One area where patient and provider views align is around the security of digital access solutions. The balance, though, between security and convenience can be a tough one to maintain. Moving quickly while maintaining security – and without adding undue friction – is a tall order, but it’s not optional. With the right tools and support, providers can safeguard patient data throughout the vaccination process with confidence and make the portal enrollment process as frictionless as possible. Interested in learning more about how Experian Health can help supercharge the COVID-19 vaccine management process?
As 2020 draws to a close and headlines hint that the end might finally be in sight for the pandemic, the healthcare industry is considering COVID-19’s legacy. The sudden shift to contactless care, financial consequences of widespread social distancing measures and changing expectations of the patient experience have upended the world of healthcare and health IT – but which changes are here to stay? And what do these changes mean for the patient experience in 2021? We asked several leaders across Experian Health for their predictions in the areas of patient access, collections, and identity management, and here is a preview of what they had to say: “Patients will choose providers that give them control over their healthcare experience” Patients have more opportunity today than ever before to manage their healthcare experience from the comfort of their own home, whether that be through patient portals, online self-scheduling and registration or online payment tools. As lockdowns and social distancing prevented patients from presenting in person, providers were forced to offer patients with more options for self-service. Unsurprisingly, this was a move a lot of patients have been waiting for and many welcomed this new technology with open arms. Jason Kressel, senior vice president of consumer products and analytics at Experian Health, expects that, as patients become more accustomed to this level of self-service, more than half of consumers will change providers in favor of one that offers premium digital healthcare services: “Providers who can meet patients where they are—through web-based services and via their mobile devices—will have the most success with retaining and attracting patients.” Online self-scheduling can put patients in the driver seat while also avoiding unnecessary contact while many remain cautious about on-site visits. With access issues removed, the patient experience will improve, in turn improving health outcomes (and providers’ bottom lines!). “With hospital finances on shaky ground, collections will be a top priority for survival” As COVID-related unemployment leads to an unstable insurance landscape, many providers are worried about maintaining effective collections processes, and they cannot afford to spend time chasing payments. Guarding against uncompensated care and tightening up the collections process will be essential. Automated collections software can help collections teams focus their efforts on patients who are most likely to pay, while also helping patients manage their financial obligations with as little stress as possible. Providers can also quickly determine which patients qualify for financial assistance, helping them get them on the right payment pathway for their circumstance without delay. Not only will this provide a much better patient financial experience, it’ll prevent “lost coverage” and allow providers to collect a larger portion of dollars owed. “The surge in portal usage means providers need to watch out for fraudsters” What does the rapid growth in portal uptake mean for data security? The speedy rollout of telehealth and other digital services has exposed security concerns for many providers, who fear a rise in fraudulent activity in 2021 as cybercriminals sniff out opportunities to steal patient data. To protect patient information and avoid costly reputational damage, providers must adopt more sophisticated identity management solutions. By combining cutting edge identity proofing, risk-based authentication and knowledge-based questions, providers can more easily verify a patient’s identity when they log on to their portal, greatly eliminating the risk of fraud. Interested in learning more about other trends that could affect the patient experience moving forward?
For many healthcare consumers, visiting patient portals to check medical records, schedule appointments, renew prescriptions and pay bills is a no-brainer. Accessible from multiple devices at any time of day, patient portals allow patients to manage their health from the comfort and convenience of their own home. COVID-19 has been a catalyst for even more patients to consider remote and virtual healthcare services. But with large healthcare data breaches increasing by nearly 200% between 2018 and 2019, one concern continues to lurk in the background: how do providers keep patient data safe? Knowing the industry is prone to dated cybersecurity measures, hackers zero in on the lucrative medical identities market, with their top targets including: patient medical recordsbilling informationlog-in credentialsauthentication credentials, and clinical trial information. As COVID-19 encourages more patients online, the digital doors are open for even more identity thieves to try to steal – and profit from – sensitive data. Healthcare organizations need to be confident that the person logging on is who they say they are, both to reduce the risk of a data breach and minimize HIPAA penalties. One way to balance consumer convenience with data security is to automate the patient portal enrollment process with robust patient identification protocols, making it harder for hackers to access patient information but without burdening patients. 3 ways to automate patient portal enrollment 1. Ditch activation codes that are easily misplaced Many healthcare organizations give new patients an activation code to use the first time they log in to their patient portal. Unfortunately, these tiny bits of paper or codes hidden at the bottom of lengthy enrollment documents are easily lost or forgotten. The patient has to call the office, taking up valuable staff time and resources to figure out how to log on – the opposite of streamlined and scalable. Instead, providers should consider an automated portal sign-up process. Using a combination of out-of-wallet questions, device recognition, risk models and cross-checks with linked patient data, portal access can be secured through a single platform. It’s easier and more reassuring for patients, and with far fewer calls to IT support. 2. Automate patient identity checks It’s not just the first log-in that matters. A portal without reliable identity authentication for each log-in attempt risks data breaches and duplicate records, all of which mean more work on the back-end. AdvantageCare Physicians used Precise ID to improve and protect patient identities. In just six months, they reduced the overall number of patient calls to their IT help desk by 25%, and reduced calls related to password reset issues by 75%. The amount of staff time spent on validating patient identities was also reduced by 80%. AdvantageCare saved time and money, while offering patients a more secure and satisfying portal experience. 3. Find quicker ways to integrate patient identity tools with existing systems The more people who need to see patient data, the more opportunities there are for cyber thieves to sneak in and access that sensitive information. Being able to share data securely between multiple providers and across different platforms is essential. During the current COVID-19 crisis, integrating authentication tools with other healthcare information systems (HIS) quickly is a huge advantage. One example is Precise ID, which can now integrate directly with Epic’s MyChart portal, Allscripts’ FollowMyHealth platform and many other HIS systems within two weeks. Jason Considine, senior vice president and general manager of Experian Health’s Patient Experience Solutions says: “Patients want to feel reassured that their data won’t wind up in the wrong hands. That’s even more important right now, as COVID-19 means more patients are choosing online services instead of face-to-face contact. With staff and cashflow under pressure, it’s even more important to get systems up and running as fast as possible. That’s why we’ve integrated with leading HIS systems to help them achieve interoperability within just two weeks.” Patient portals have the power to transform the healthcare experience for patients, but only if they can trust that their data will be kept safe. Providers can protect their patients from identity theft by adopting a multi-layered solution that incorporates best practice and cutting-edge data security technologies. Find out more about how Experian Health can help you automate patient portal security to avoid medical identity theft, so you can save money, avoid reputational damage and create a positive patient experience.
In today’s fast-evolving healthcare industry, consumer expectations are changing. Individuals are footing an increasing portion of medical bills, so they’re paying closer attention to their healthcare options. And with digital technology enabling choices for everything from where to bank to what to eat (and even who to date!), patients are now expecting a similar consumer-centric experience when it comes to their health. But what exactly are they looking for? Providers should respond to this rising consumerism with two things: convenience and engagement. Many patient tasks are time-consuming, tedious and repetitive. The use of outdated technology draws unfavorable comparisons with the intuitive apps used in other industries. And all too often there’s a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing. The opportunities to improve the patient experience are huge. As the competition for consumer business heats up, providers should look for ways to step up their patient engagement strategies to attract new consumers and inspire loyalty among existing members. Consider how to make it as easy as possible for patients to access the care they need, whether that’s through frictionless scheduling, simplified registration processes or proactive communication about free transportation options. Data-driven technology and automation can help drive improvements in both convenience and engagement. Here, we look specifically at how automation could help you meet changing consumer expectations in the world of patient access. How can automation make patient access more convenient for consumers? Patients hate administrative and financial tasks that take them away from family, friends and other priorities. When looking for an easy, streamlined patient access experience, they might ask: Can I make appointments online? Can I get an out of pocket estimate for my cost of care? And can I price-shop my services? Can I do my pre-registration work before I show up for my appointment? Can I manage my bills and all my health information online? Can I do all of this from my mobile or tablet device at a time when it’s convenient for me? Automation can help you deliver against these expectations and remove stress and hassle from many patient access tasks. By using consumer data and technology to trigger the next stage in the process, you can help patients navigate the complex healthcare system, making registration, billing and payment more convenient. For example, online self-scheduling lets patients plan appointments when it suits them. You’ll increase appointment and referral rates, improve call center efficiency, reduce no-shows and enhance the overall patient experience. Or how about offering patients a one-stop-shop for managing all their healthcare admin, through a digital patient portal? This makes it much quicker and easier for them to get price estimates, set up payment plans, update insurance information and stay on track with appointments and treatment plans. By automating the registration and billing processes, you’ll improve self-pay collections and decrease bad debt. If you can say “yes” to the above questions, you’ll be making life easier for your patient access staff too. Reliance on manual data entry processes means staff are constantly battling bottlenecks and dealing with avoidable errors and duplicate records. Not only does this waste employee time, it opens the door to major safety issues and lost revenue: patient identification errors can cost up to $2,000 per patient and are associated with a third of denied claims, costing the average hospital $1.5 million each year. How can automation support better patient engagement? This isn’t just about removing obstacles or introducing speedy tools. You can use automation to improve patient engagement at various touchpoints during the patient access process. Consumer data paired with automation can help you nudge patients by text or email to make appointments, so they don’t miss out on important checks. You can deliver personalized updates, reminders and offers, so your patients feel taken care of and know exactly what’s happening throughout their healthcare journey. Using lifestyle, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral data from the highest quality sources, you can also use automation to segment your audience into groups based on all sorts of variables, in order to communicate with them about the right services, at the right time. Now is the time to leverage technology for a better patient access experience. It’s clear that awareness of the potential ROI in automation is growing. Still, many providers have only scratched the surface when it comes to integrating automation within their revenue cycle operations. Given that 66% of patients would switch providers for more convenient access, it makes sense to consider how you can leverage technology to simplify all sorts of patient tasks, from pre-registration to payments. Learn more about how automation could help your organization create a better patient access experience for consumers.
Medical identity theft is a growing concern for healthcare organizations in the digital age. In 2017, healthcare data breaches accounted for 24% of all data breaches, rising to 29% in 2018. In just 12 months, the total number of personal medical records exposed jumped from 5.3 million to 9.9 million. In fact, healthcare data breaches tend to expose many more individual records than other industries. For example, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, 43.9% of breaches in the first half of 2019 were in business, while only 36.9% were in healthcare. But for healthcare, this meant exposing a staggering 77.4% of all records left vulnerable to identity theft, compared to just 9.5% by business breaches. The potential impact of a healthcare data breach seems to be further-reaching than in other fields. At the same time, healthcare is slightly behind other industries when it comes to data security. Financial services have a two-decade head start to refine their anti-fraud strategies. This, coupled with the fact that medical identities are worth 20 to 50 times more to fraudsters than financial identities, means medical identity theft is increasingly appealing to criminals. It’s a big concern, but healthcare organizations can use data to fight data theft. When you’re armed with the right information, you can put in place the right strategy to protect your patients. What is medical identity theft? Medical identity theft is when someone uses another person’s health-related identifying information without them knowing. This could include their name and address, Social Security number, health records, or insurance information. Fraudsters can use this information to access medical services without paying, submit false insurance claims, or buy drugs. They pretend to be someone else to access services illegally. In addition, that personal information could be used for other kinds of identity fraud or blackmail. What are the consequences of medical identity theft? Karly Rowe, Vice President New Product Development, Identity & Care Management Product at Experian Health, says: “For patients, the impact of having their personal information stolen, and then possibly used to make false claims in their name, can be hugely violating. When someone’s record becomes overlaid with a thief’s record, this can have massive consequences for that person’s future treatment. It’s a major stress to sort out – both administratively and financially. And for organizations, there’s obviously the reputational hit. The relationship between provider and patient is based on trust. When you fail to secure your patients’ most personal information, you risk losing that trust for good.” It’s also a major cost. Medical fraud in the U.S. is estimated to cost somewhere between $80 billion and $230 billion, with the cost to individual providers and payers coming in at around $2 million per breach. To tackle the problem, healthcare organizations are stepping up their security practices across the board. A HIMSS survey, in partnership with Experian Data Breach Resolution, reported that data security strategies have improved. Ninety-two percent of those asked had performed a formal risk analysis, and more than half had increased their patient data security budget. A number of organizations also teamed up to form the Medical Identity Fraud Alliance, to mobilize the industry to tackle the problem. Still, there’s a ways to go. 3 ways to leverage data insights to prevent medical identity theft Protecting patient data calls for a data-based solution. Here are three ways to leverage consumer data and technology to protect your patients and keep their information safe: Resolve patient identities. Accurate patient data is the cornerstone of data management. If your records aren’t entirely reliable to begin with, keeping them safe and secure will be much harder. Put preventative measures in place to minimize the risk of duplicates and errors. Assigning a Universal Patient Identifier (UPI) will let you follow the entire patient journey, so you have a complete, accurate and secure picture of each patient. Protect patient identities. Patient portals allow people to access their health information from their personal devices. It’s convenient and can improve engagement and health outcomes. Unfortunately, they can also become vulnerable to breaches by data thieves. You have to make it easy for patients to use portals, but difficult for fraudsters to get their hands on that personal data. As patient portals gain popularity, you must have the right technology in place to validate and protect patient identities. Automating patient enrollment with a tool like Precise ID® can help authenticate patient identities from the start using identity-proofing, fraud management and device recognition. Enrich patient identities. With data insights, you can check that your patient is who they say they are the moment they arrive in reception. Using the broadest and most trustworthy datasets, identity verification solutions make constant checks, so you have a single, accurate and 360° view of each patient. Not only is this ‘golden record’ the cornerstone of patient care and experience, it’ll let your staff update patient data during intake without manual corrections. Medical records contain some of the most sensitive personal information, so it’s vital to safeguard it with the strongest security that exists. — Download this free eBook to learn how to evolve today\'s patient matching technologies or find out more about how to protect your patient data and prevent medical identity theft.
“Build it and they will come” might work for 1980s movie characters, multinational coffee franchises and beloved sports teams, but it’s not a great engagement strategy for most consumer-facing organizations – especially in healthcare. Take patient portals, for example. Giving your patients a way to access their health records can help improve their health outcomes, increase compliance with care plans, and create a more positive healthcare experience overall. But do your customers know the portal exists? Do they know how it could serve them? Do they trust it? You’ve built it, but how many patients are actually logging on? In 2017, over half the US population had access to a patient portal. Around half of those people used it at least once in the previous year. Of those who didn’t, 59% said it was because they didn’t feel they needed to access an online medical record, and 25% were worried about privacy and security. This tells us two things: If healthcare providers want to increase the number of patients using their portal, they need to proactively communicate the benefits to those patients, and healthcare providers could do more to reassure patients they take portal security seriously. If patients discover that using the portal is better than not using it, and that they can do so securely, they will be more likely to log on. You can address both in your patient engagement and marketing strategies. Perhaps the better mantra is: “if you solve their problem and tell them about it, they will come”. Balancing portal security and patient convenience Your patient portal is more than just a platform for patients to access test results, sort out bills or schedule appointments. It’s a way to nurture the patient-provider relationship. And at its heart, that relationship is about trust. One way to build trust is to ensure your portal meets the strictest of security measures without creating an excessive admin burden for patients. You can do this with a security strategy that layers up several protective measures to help you tackle common areas of vulnerability, including weak ID verification, over-reliance on password-protection, and failure to encrypt sensitive data. A few practical ways to keep your patient portal secure include: using ID verification when someone signs up for the portal using device intelligence and identity proofing when a user signs in to the portal deploying extra security checks where the risk of identity fraud is higher putting systems in place to flag and respond to security breaches as fast as possible. A solution like PreciseID® can help you take care of your patients’ privacy and security behind the scenes. They’ll see just enough to reassure them that you’re taking their security seriously, without any protracted log-in process that puts them off using the portal altogether. Marketing your patient portal so more patients benefit from it Solving your patients’ concerns about security is just one route to boosting portal utilization. Another important way to ensure more patients use and benefit from the patient portal is to actively encourage them to access their online records regularly. Research suggests individuals who are encouraged to use their online medical record by their provider are almost twice as likely to access it, compared to those who weren’t actively encouraged. So how do you convince your patients of the benefits of regularly logging on? That it’s not just a convenient way to manage their medical journey, but could result in better health? The answer lies in consumer data – the lifestyle, demographic, psychographic and behavioral information that gives you a fuller understanding of what drives your patients. Experian Health’s ConsumerView data analytics can capture insights that let you reach out to your consumers with the right message, in the right way, at the right time. Do they live a busy lifestyle? Reassure them that the portal can save them time. Are there lifestyle factors that may hinder their adherence to medication? Encourage them to use the portal to make sure their prescriptions are up to date. If you discover your consumers are big social media users, you might target your portal engagement campaign through those channels. Equally, if a consumer doesn’t have any social media accounts, there would be no point investing in Facebook ads. Personalization makes your patients feel taken care of, leading to greater trust, loyalty and satisfaction. Increase patient portal engagement today In the wake of consumerism and IT transformation across many other industries, a tailored and digitally secure healthcare service is a must. “Consumers now expect to be provided with a turnkey, individual experience that is fast and seamless,” said Kristen Simmons, Experian Health’s senior vice president of strategy and innovation. Your patient portal must be seen to provide a valuable and secure service. While there’s a way to go to increase the number of patients making full use of portals, the tools exist to support healthcare providers’ engagement goals. Learn more about how your organization can leverage consumer insights to improve patient retention and engagement.
The roll-out of patient portals has been a slow burn. While consumer finance, retail and other markets have given customers secure electronic access to their personal information for decades, healthcare has been playing catch-up. But thanks to regulatory pushes, such as the Promoting Interoperability and Meaningful Use programs and the Affordable Care Act, digitized health records are now the norm. Over half of healthcare consumers in the US use patient portals to access their health information at the click of a button – just as they do with their bank accounts or grocery deliveries. Aside from the convenience factor, research suggests that when patients have access to their health records through patient portals, they experience better health outcomes, greater satisfaction levels, and improved communication with their provider. There’s a higher chance of spotting errors. Adherence to medications is increased, and care becomes more accessible for some otherwise hard-to-reach patients. For providers, this sense of ownership, transparency and connection contributes to elevated consumer loyalty and engagement. As consumers embrace online portals to view their medical records and lab results, renew prescriptions, schedule appointments, and in some cases pay bills, they expect and assume their provider will keep that data secure. Providers must balance convenience and security. Unfortunately, some patients remain unconvinced of their providers’ ability to get this balance right. Patients worry about portal privacy and security Despite the upsides, a quarter of patients with access to online portals in 2017 chose not to access them because of worries about privacy and security. They’re right to be cautious: medical identities are said to be worth 20-50 times more than financial identities. It\'s no wonder identity thieves are increasingly targeting the healthcare industry. In 2018, the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) reported 351 data breaches of 500 or more healthcare records, resulting in the exposure of more than 13 million patient records. Hackers are always on the lookout for vulnerabilities to exploit, with patient medical records, log-in credentials, passwords and other authentication credentials among their top five targets. Without adequate IT security, your prized patient engagement tools – like patient portals – can become an open door for hackers. As a provider, your job is to make it easy for patients to access and manage their own data, but hard for fraudsters to get their hands on sensitive data. How to keep patient portals secure The good thing about being somewhat late to the party is that healthcare organizations can learn from other industries in how they have tackled online security challenges without creating too much of a burden for consumers. Think about how consumers authenticate their accounts for financial services or even social media profiles. Typically, there\'s an email to verify they are who they say they are, or a two-factor authentication process with a code sent to their cell phone. Most patient portals don\'t have these layers of security. At Experian Health, we recommend a multi-layered solution incorporating device recognition (especially important as more users access portals via cell phones and tablets), identity proofing and fraud management. Here are some examples: Sign-up screening When someone enrolls in the portal, use identity proofing to ensure they are who they say they are. It’s particularly important to ask out-of-wallet questions, such as their city of birth, first car model, or previous address to make sure they’re not an imposter. Log-in monitoring Device intelligence will help you confirm the patient is using a cell phone or tablet your system recognizes, to minimize the risk of someone else accessing their account. This technology will tell you if the device is associated with previous fraudulent activities or potentially impersonating multiple patients. If a device fails to meet the risk threshold, identity proofing questions can be used to verify the user’s right to access the account. Additional checks on risky requests Some patient portal activities, like downloading medical records and editing a patient’s profile, increase the risk. You’d want to add an extra layer of control here, such as additional out-of-wallet questions, to safeguard your patient’s data. Rapid response and damage containment Given the sensitivity and richness of medical data, an attack on the portal can be devastating for patients and costly for providers. In the event of an attack, providers can put in place early warning systems to flag up which patients have been compromised and trigger rapid response measures to shut down the attack and prevent the damage from spreading. Promote interoperability Physicians and care providers need to share information on patients in the course of providing good care. But how are they doing this? To keep that data secure and ensure it’s only seen by the right people, you can set up your systems to share data across different platforms in a safe and secure way. Underlying all of this is the need to reassure your patients that you can be trusted with their data. Victoria Dames, Senior Director of Product Management, Experian Health, explains: “Healthcare breaches are nothing new, and neither is hackers’ and identity thieves’ penchant for medical records. What is new, however, is the broad range of tools that organizations can now utilize to stop them from accessing that personal data. Give patients the peace of mind they deserve by taking advantage of up-to-date solutions that actually work in our ever-evolving tech climate.” Learn more about how protect patient portals and encourage more patients to enjoy the full benefits of their patient portal, knowing that their sensitive personal details are safe.
People increasingly expect immediate access to information at their fingertips. They want online access for everything from food delivery to healthcare. But as healthcare organizations enroll more patients through online access, how do they protect themselves from data breaches without impeding patient engagement? Data breaches are more prevalent and costlier than ever. Up 6.4 percent in 2018 compared to 2017, the global costs of data breaches reached $3.86 million last year. The healthcare industry has been particularly hard-hit. Over 90 percent of organizations have experienced a data breach since 2016, and more than 180 million records have been stolen since 2015. Just last year, a Missouri-based healthcare organization discovered that its patient portal was vulnerable for more than a month after hackers installed malware. In that time, almost 6,000 patients’ debit and credit card numbers could have been compromised. This incident alone demonstrates that improving cybersecurity in healthcare is vitally important. This is why one of New York\'s largest medical groups, AdvantageCare Physicians, made it a priority to strengthen the security of its Epic MyChart by adding a multilayer identity verification step at the time of patient enrollment and throughout every portal access request thereafter. Patient identity verification secures patient portals More than just satisfying the need for constant connectivity, patient portals are exceptionally helpful. They allow patients to access test results, view their medical record, schedule appointments online, and communicate with their providers from their mobile devices. Despite online platforms being a target for hackers, AdvantageCare Physicians executives know that patient portals help patients engage in their healthcare and empower them to take control of their health. So the organization turned to the same technology that is trusted by banks, retailers, and government agencies to protect this valuable tool. Identity-proofing technology can quickly authenticate patients when they access an online portal by evaluating the identity, device, and risk factors of a given user. This multilayered check happens in a second so patients aren’t left waiting on a load screen. Through continuous protection that ensures complete security without sacrificing ease of use, patients\' trust grows because they know their electronic medical records are safe. This patient trust can go a long way. A Software Advice study found that due to concerns about data breaches, 21 percent of patients keep information from their doctors. Securing its patient healthcare portal with Experian Health’s Precise ID helps AdvantageCare Physicians open up communication to provide better care. This, in addition to improving access to resources, supports the organization’s goals of improving health management and promoting wellness. These additional verification steps also protect AdvantageCare Physicians from compliance risks. For example, the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Promoting Interoperability standards set out requirements for collecting and maintaining electronic medical information to ensure healthcare cybersecurity. Experian’s Precise ID complies with this and many other programs. Decreased need for IT support Given the many advantages of a fully protected patient portal, AdvantageCare Physicians\' final concern was the effect of increased self-service traffic. More users accessing the portal more regularly might create bottlenecks. But patient identity proofing actually increases the platform’s user bandwidth. For example, Precise ID streamlines the process for patients signing up. Traditionally, AdvantageCare Physicians\' IT department would have to validate each new patient identity on the back end, but Precise ID can quickly authenticate these users. This has reduced the need for IT support by 80 percent. IT also spends less time correcting records because letting patients create their own accounts increases accuracy while reducing the number of duplicates. Online self-service platforms for healthcare organizations like AdvantageCare Physicians enhance patient care. But just like any other online transaction, patients need to know that any information they provide through the portal is secure. Sufficient cybersecurity for its healthcare portal lets AdvantageCare Physicians focus on delivering the personalized resources patients need without the worry of a data breach. Learn more about how to reduce risks during patient enrollment.
As of January 1, 2019, thousands of hospitals in the U.S. are being required to post an online list of the cost of their services due to a new requirement by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). However, amid growing confusion about which fields are required or what format the list of standard services needs to be in, many health systems feel this new law will only create confusion among patients. One health system described the new requirements as, “It would be like walking into a car dealership looking at a new car, asking the salesman how much the car was going to cost and having them hand you the parts catalog. Obviously, when you have the parts catalog, you don\'t know what parts are in your car or which ones you\'re going to use or how much labor is going to go into making the car.\" While posting the list of prices is required by CMS, some health systems have invested in the needed technology to make it easy for patients to shop online for care. For example, in an interview with Modern Healthcare, El Camino Hospital explains they “launched a consumer self-service tool in May 2017, after about a year of development work with Experian Health. Since then, more than 3,000 people have visited the hospital\'s website, selected one or more of about 90 medical or surgical services they were interested in, entered their insurance information, and received an instant out-of-pocket cost estimate the hospital claims is 95% to 99% accurate.” Health systems like El Camino Hospital know that patients want to avoid costly surprises, and they should be able to understand their financial obligations upfront, including deductibles and copays. In fact, McKinsey research found nearly three-quarters of participants were worried about healthcare expenditures. Legislative help The new CMS requirement is only one of a few initiatives in the works from a legislative standpoint. In an effort to help patients, some members of Congress are trying to bring attention to the topic. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators in 2018 wrote a letter to healthcare stakeholders and experts requesting information in an effort to learn more about price transparency as they considered possible legislation on the matter. Also in the letter, the senators cited the lack of state laws and regulations requiring healthcare providers to make that information available to patients. More than 40 states were cited by the Catalyst for Payment Reform and the Health Care Incentives Improvement Initiative in 2016 because they were deficient in healthcare transparency legislation. And that same report found that some patients were paying thousands of dollars more than others for the same procedures, depending which healthcare provider they used. Alleviating patient stress Transparency in billing creates more satisfied patients because they know how much they will be paying for services, which makes it easier for them to budget. Going to the hospital is usually a stressful time for patients and their families. An easy way for healthcare providers to alleviate that stress is to help patients understand their costs upfront Most healthcare organizations already have the basic data they need to use automated technology to construct estimates for basic services, including claims data, real-time eligibility and benefits information, payer contracts and charge description master (CDM) information. Experian Health has the technology to help healthcare organizations convert this information into patient costs through Patient Estimates. This kind of transparency provides several benefits to both providers and patients. Online estimates published on healthcare provider websites give patients access to the information any time, including late at night and on weekends. And these estimates can be obtained confidentially, so patients who may be uncomfortable asking about certain procedures can find that information on their own. And that helps them be more relaxed about making appointments and scheduling treatments because they have confidence they won\'t face billing surprises. This feel-better result of having prices at their fingertips has a clear benefit for the healthcare providers as well. Patients are able to plan and pay for services, decreasing unpaid balances for hospitals and other healthcare providers. Ability to budget for healthcare costs Patients who know what to expect can budget wisely and actively take charge of their healthcare bills. They go in with their eyes open, which leads to improved revenue cycle management. In the end, both the patient and the hospital get what they want. With Congress and state legislatures looking at transparency in healthcare, providers can expect to see more of these rules. Healthcare organizations can get ahead of them with software like Experian Health\'s Patient Estimates. Healthcare consumers don\'t like surprises in their billing. Price transparency gives them the information and peace of mind they need to secure healthcare services and be assured that they know what they will be paying for them. Learn more about how Experian Health can help you achieve price transparency for your patients.
