Paying a Bigger Share of Medical Bills Could Have Patients Turning to Urgent Care

There’s a “new, critical stakeholder” with a voice in discussions about healthcare costs—and it’s someone urgent care operators know as well as anyone. A new report from InstaMed says 74% of patients had to pay a bigger share of their healthcare costs in 2015, prompting revenue cycle analysts to look at them more closely as actual “consumers” of services. “Both payers and providers will be challenged to overhaul their payment processes or face lost revenue and poor customer retention,” the report concludes. Having more insurance options, many people are choosing plans with high deductibles, which in turn is making them more payment-conscious when choosing care providers. The InstaMed report reveals that nearly half of consumers would change providers if they could better understand their financial responsibility at the outset, and if they could pay using a preferred method. It’s worth noting that 64% of respondents expressed an interest in using mobile payments systems like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Android Pay. Out-of-pocket healthcare costs have risen a whopping 225% since 2006.