Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1383677
19 CFO / FINANCE 'Unique historical fear' of billing at Illinois system could keep patients from getting vaccinated for COVID-19, official says By Katie Adams P atient distrust persists regarding the billing practices at Urbana, Ill.-based Carle Health, and it may keep them from receiving their COVID-19 vaccines, according to a May 12 report from Provi- dence, R.I.-based Brown University's Docu- menting COVID-19 project. Carle Health has a history of billing meth- ods that have caused distrust among its pa- tients, according to the report. For exam- ple, the health system aggressively pursued payments, including through the courts, for patients who didn't pay their medical bills in the early 2000s, and patients faced skyrocket- ing bills when the system switched to a pro- vider-based billing model and recategorized certain areas as hospital outpatient areas. Some patients who received COVID-19 vac- cines at Carle Health told the Documenting COVID-19 project they were hesitant to go due to fear of being billed. Aer some patients who got vaccinated against COVID-19 at Carle Health received erroneous bills, the health system said in March it would ensure future COVID-19 vaccine recipients did not receive such in- voices. However, several patients the Doc- umenting COVID-19 project interviewed said they had been billed by Carle Health for their COVID-19 vaccinations aer that pledge was made. During an early March conference call be- tween the Illinois Department of Public Health and local health departments, Cham- paign-Urbana Public Health District Ad- ministrator Julie Pryde told state officials a "unique historical fear" of Carle Health's bill- ing practices remains, according to minutes of the meeting obtained by the Documenting COVID-19 project. While hospital billing issues oen affect a small number of patients, Ms. Pryde said they tend to "reverberate way, way, way farther" be- yond the patients they initially affected. "ere's just a lot of residual distrust there within certain communities," she said. "It's almost generational like they may not have even had an experience with it, but they have heard about it. One of the things that we're doing is to just continually say to the public, there will be no out-of-pocket cost to you for this vaccine — period." Matt Kolb, Carle Health's COO, said the health system has worked hard to build trust with its patients, and it has "come a long way in terms of communication with patients around costs and billing and the rest." e Documenting COVID-19 project is an effort to build an archive of searchable docu- ments about the pandemic obtained through state open-records laws and the Freedom of Information Act. n 3 Ascension Texas hospitals to pay $20.9M for alleged kickbacks By Alia Paavola T hree Ascension hospitals in Texas agreed to pay $20.9 million for allegedly paying multiple physician groups above fair mar- ket value for services, according to an April 30 news release from the HHS' Office of Inspector General. The three Texas hospitals are Ascension's Dell Seton Medical Center in Austin, Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin and Ascension Se- ton Williamson in Roundrock. Ascension self-disclosed the conduct to the inspector general. The hospitals allegedly violated the Civil Monetary Penalties Law, in- cluding provisions related to physician self-referrals and kickbacks in seven instances, according to the news release. Some of the allegations the report outlined include Dell Seton pay- ing an Austin physician practice above fair market value for on-call coverage; Ascension Seton Austin paying an Austin practice above fair market value for transplant on-call coverage and administrative services; and Ascension Seton Williamson paying a practice above fair market value to lease the practice's employed registered nurses and surgical technologists who assisted in surgeries at the hospital. The release did not disclose the physician groups allegedly involved. n Retiring couples may need $300K for medical costs, up 88% from 2 decades ago By Morgan Haefner A retiring couple should plan to spend $300,000 in healthcare and medical costs throughout their retirement, a fig- ure that's up 88 percent since 2002, according to Fidelity Investments. The figure comes from Fidelity's annual Retir- ee Health Care Cost Estimate, released May 7. The estimate is based on a hypothetical opposite-gender couple retiring in 2021 and is based on current life expectancy data. It as- sumes the retirees qualify for Medicare and must pay cost-sharing for Parts A and B as well as prescription drug coverage. Estimated healthcare costs for a single retiree are $157,000 for women and $143,000 for men, according to Fidelity. n