Thursday, June 29, 2017

Calls for Action Regarding Eligibility for Medicaid

Everyone is awaiting the Senate’s move regarding the proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Earlier this year, the House of Representatives voted to replace it with a downgraded version of American Health Care Act, with the Trump administration recently revealing plans to cut budgets for Medicaid and Social Security Disability Insurance.

Whatever the Senate would approve on, however, there’s one thing that’s sure: healthcare cost is rising for states that widened their requirements for eligibility for Medicaid under the ACA. As uncertainties hover over the future of this federal-state program that was designed to provide services to low-income families, the elderly and people with disabilities, organizations are urging the authorities to protect it.

About 120 leading patient organizations wrote a letter to the Senate expressing concerns about Medicaid. They urged the Senate leadership to stop actions that would change Medicaid’s funding and stop its expansion. They want to keep Medicaid as a support line to patients with existing healthcare needs, stop the proposed switch into a per capita cap or block grant system, and maintain the program’s coverage expansion. Read more from this blog. http://bit.ly/2uYk4HJ

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

New Health Insurance Marketplace Coverage Options Possible with Proposed Bill

Uncertainties in the health insurance marketplace loom as the Trump administration reveals plans that could affect the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In line with this, some members of the Senate are hoping to establish stability by introducing the Individual Health Insurance Marketplace Improvement Act. Senators Tom Carper and Tim Kaine rolled out the bill in a bid to remove the uncertainties and stabilize the individual healthcare marketplace, as well as make premiums more affordable.

Calling for unity to improve, Carper and Kaine believe that the bill would make healthcare more affordable, accessible and stable for consumers while encouraging insurers to up their game.

Affordability

Cost is one of the major hurdles in encouraging all Americans to get insurance. Low income families, in particular, would opt-out of it since they don’t have the money to pay for premiums. Even though they will save a lot by having insurance, they don’t usually have the capacity to shoulder its cost. Read more from this blog. http://bit.ly/2upQuh8

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Study Shows the Future of Hospital Revenue Cycle Management Looks Bright

If the projections on industry trends are to be believed, revenue cycle management (RCM) is going to experience a lot more growth and heavier demand from various healthcare institutions in the next decade. This was the finding of a recent study conducted by TMR Research concerning the relevance of global RCM in the improvement and development of industry workflow growth and development.

Increase in Demand

According to the study, increased demand will be occurring on a global scale, with developed countries in particular looking to complement the more traditional workflow models with more modern ones such as those offered by RCM services. As healthcare organizations grow over the years, the need to further streamline their workflow processes will increase, particularly in how they complete the billing cycle. After all, the bigger these organizations grow, the more complex their documentation can be. It is crucial that their medical and financial records are kept accurate for better transparency. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2vkZfXl

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management: A Drop in Prices, Spending and Employment

The healthcare industry saw lower numbers in the first quarter of the year. Records showed that prices, spending and employment took a fall from June 2016 to April 2017. This downward trend occurred three years after healthcare spending was accelerated.

According to statistics, healthcare prices dropped 1.9% from March to April this year. It’s only 1.6% higher than that of last year, marking the lowest annual growth rate since June 2016. Healthcare employment growth, on the other hand, fell by 10,000 per month since 2016, while healthcare spending declined by 0.5% during the same period.

These figures came amid the controversies surrounding the Trump administration’s plans to repeal Obamacare and the recent proposed budget cuts that will affect Social Security Disability Insurance. There are various reasons for the drop and slow growth in healthcare prices, spending and employment. Read more from this blog. http://bit.ly/2uYpLFK

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Trump’s Budget Cuts Proposal Hits Social Security Disability for Children and Adults

The Trump administration has recently unveiled a budget plan aimed at easing the country’s deficits and increasing defense funding. The plan contains budgets for several government assistance programs such as social insurance, social security, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps.

The Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) will be one of the most affected programs should the budget proposal get the greenlight. This has drawn flak from a lot of people since the program covers millions of American workers, children and senior citizens. Currently, almost 9 million American workers aged between 18 and 64 are benefitting from SSDI. These beneficiaries have nearly 2 million dependents. Adult children with disabilities and widows and widowers of workers are also under this federal aid. Read more from this blog. http://bit.ly/2upDOa3

Sunday, June 18, 2017

What is Revenue Cycle Management Going to Be if GOP Proposal Gets Passed

After a rocky start, the GOP are once again ready to try their hand at getting their version of the healthcare bill passed. Republicans have been very secretive about the entire drafting process, working on it behind closed doors and away from the prying eyes of outsiders.

While there had been little known about what could be in the draft, the obvious anticipation is that the proposal will aim to repeal and replace significant portions of the Obamacare. The main concern of everyone awaiting this new version of the proposed bill is that it will ultimately deprive as much as 23 million people of their access to a viable healthcare system.

Worrisome Budget Cuts

In the past few months, concerns have been growing not only about the fate of the Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, but also about the future of Medicaid and social security benefits. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2uEIhVT

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Revenue Cycle Management Companies Bracing for Significant Market Growth

The future of the healthcare revenue cycle management (HRCM) industry is bright. According to reports, the market is expected to grow significantly and hit USD 100 billion by 2024. This is thanks to the increasing use by private clinics, hospitals, diagnostics and ambulatory care centers. The development of value-based healthcare services and RCM solutions will also drive the growth, as well as increased work efficiency and quality of work life among healthcare professionals as a result of an improved level of automation.

Since HRCM is considered a vital part of the healthcare industry, this growth will benefit healthcare facilities, personnel and patients in a lot of ways. Billing processes will be made easier, thus increasing the quality of patient services and curbing down hospital expenses.

Technology and end-users are also integral in this predicted growth. Healthcare facilities are utilizing HRCM solutions to save time and money while physicians can do their jobs faster and more efficiently. Such integrated solutions prevent errors and make medical coding easier. Read more from this blog. http://bit.ly/2uYuNlz

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Revenue Cycle Management Services and a Decrease in Healthcare Program Enrollees

The confusion regarding the state of the country’s healthcare program continues on, and this time the effects are being more widely felt than ever. On the frontlines are healthcare providers who have reported a significant decrease in the number of enrollees over the past year.

It’s no wonder how this development came to be. With the change of administrations and a twice-failed attempt at repealing and replacing the existing Obamacare, there has been a lot of concern as to what kind of new program will be finally implemented.

Higher Risk, Low Returns

Healthcare providers are now talking about how much more difficult it is to keep the business afloat, mainly because they are not able to hit the numbers in enrollment they had been expecting. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2uptG18