We’ve been warning you about the influx of patients on high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), so this news shouldn’t come as a major
surprise, but a new survey from America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) now reveals that health savings accounts (HSAs) play a major role in this increase.
HSA enrollment grew 18% last year – from 11.4 million in January 2011 to 13.5 million in January 2012 – largely due to the personal plans offered by large employers. HSAs are essentially debit cards that patients to pay off their deductibles. The principle is to let patients – not employers – control their health care finances, while allowing any money on the card that doesn’t get used one year to roll over to the next year.
What does that mean for you? In addition to educating your front-desk staff on HDHPs, you must ensure they are prepared for patients paying with HSAs. Just because they are being trusted to balance their deductible budgets doesn’t mean the patients know how much money they have on their card at any given time. If the account is unfunded or underfunded, you still must collect the deductible.
Previous HDHP coverage from the Part B News editors’ blog:
http://pbn.decisionhealth.com/Blogs/Detail.aspx?id=200166
http://pbn.decisionhealth.com/Blogs/Detail.aspx?id=200209