UNC Health Care expands its payment processes
In an effort to balance providing the best possible health care to North Carolinians in need while maintaining responsible financial processes, UNC Health Care is expanding its point-of-service payment policies throughout the health care system. Financial counselors will be on hand to assist any patient with questions or concerns.
Feb. 27, 2008
UNC Health Care expands its payment processes
In an effort to balance providing the best possible health care to North Carolinians in need while maintaining responsible financial processes, UNC Health Care is expanding its point-of-service payment policies throughout the health care system. Financial counselors will be on hand to assist any patient with questions or concerns.
Beginning March 1, all patients who receive medical treatment at UNC Health Care will be asked to pay any copays, coinsurance, deductibles, amounts due for prior services and/or estimated deposits at the point of service at which they are receiving care. Point-of-service collection is already in place in many, but not all, patient care sites within UNC Health Care. The new policy extends point-of-service collection system-wide and formally defines UNC Health Care’s expectations for patient payments and the procedure for collection at the point of service.
Several factors have made this new policy necessary, said Dr. Allen Daugird, medical director and vice president of ambulatory care. These include an increase in UNC Health Care’s charity care and bad debt costs over the last 18 months, a trend among insurance providers to require patients to pay a larger share of their medical expenses and increasing requirements on UNC Health Care, from both private and government insurance providers, to collect unpaid patient bills to the extent possible.
“As a state-owned health care system, UNC Health Care is committed to providing the highest quality medical care to all who need it, regardless of their ability to pay,” Daugird said. “We also have a very robust financial assistance program in place to help those who need assistance in meeting their financial obligations to us.
“In addition, as a state-owned system we have a responsibility to the state to collect what is owed to us. If we don’t collect these dollars up front, our chances of collecting them at all go down by 60 percent,” Daugird said. “Every dollar that we fail to collect is another dollar added to the financial burden of the state, and that results ultimately in increased medical care costs for all of us who live in North Carolina.”
Letters are being mailed this week to notify patients what they should expect on their next visit. The letters ask patients to come prepared to pay their up-front, out-of-pocket costs by cash, credit card or check and give the name and phone number of a financial counselor patients can call if they have questions.
Media contact: Lynn Wooten, (919) 966-6046 or lwooten@unch.unc.edu
ABOUT UNC HEALTH CARE
The UNC Health Care System is a
not-for-profit integrated health care system owned by the state of
North Carolina and based in Chapel Hill. It exists to further the
teaching mission of the University of North Carolina and to provide
state-of-the-art patient care. UNC Health Care is comprised of UNC
Hospitals, which is ranked among the top 50 in the nation in six
specialties by U.S. News & World Report and ranked one of the
country’s 41 best on the Leapfrog 2007 Top Hospitals list; the UNC
School of Medicine, a nationally eminent research institution;
community practices; home health and hospice services in seven central
North Carolina counties; and Rex Healthcare and its provider network in
Wake County. UNC Health Care also manages Chatham Hospital in Siler
City.
