Basic HTML Version
FINANCE
KOO T E NA I
H E A L T H
. OR G
11
By Kim Anderson
WONDERING HOW YOU WILL
pay for a medical procedure is
sometimes more unsettling than the
prospect of undergoing surgery—
even if you have insurance. High
deductibles, plan exclusions and
in-network versus out-of-network
differences can leave you wondering
what you’ll owe in the end.
For those without insurance,
the prospect can be even more
nerve-racking.
Recently, Kootenai Health began
working with patients to shed some
light on what their financial respon-
sibility will be before procedures are
done. Many patients are even pay-
ing their deductible or percentage of
insurance they will owe before they
receive care—just as they would if
theywere going to their doctor’s office.
E M P O W E R E D B Y
K N O W L E D G E
“Health insurance is incredibly
complex,” said Bjorn Handeen,
of howmuch theywill owe, but it also
provides an opportunity to suggest
help.
W E C A R E F O R Y O U
“If a patient is uninsured or un-
derinsured, having a thorough
understanding of their financial
responsibility becomes especially im-
portant,” said Handeen. “Our social
services department can often help
find ways for uninsured patients to
meet their financial obligation.”
Social services staff members at
Kootenai work with patients to find
ways to cover medical expenses.
For some patients, this might mean
helping them enroll in a program
such as Medicaid. For others, it
might mean finding medications at
a reduced price. For still others, it
might mean developing a payment
plan so they can pay their bill over
time. Whatever the case, patients
appreciate knowing up front what
they will owe and having a plan to
cover it.
As an added benefit, starting the
conversation about insurance early
helps everything get done right the
first time. Delays caused by billing
the wrong insurance provider, fail-
ing to coordinate benefits between
plans or not getting a needed autho-
rization can take hours to resolve
but only moments to prevent.
“Billing used to be considered the
final piece of a trip to the hospital,
but it’s always been a big concern for
patients,” said Handeen. “Now we
have the conversation early and our
patients can relax and concentrate on
what’s important—getting better.”
Y O U R D U C K S
I N A R O W
Planning to have a proce-
dure done at Kootenai? Contact the
financial clearance center at
208-
666-2197
to discuss your insurance
coverage and payment options.
Feeling Settled
H E L P I N G P A T I E N T S W I T H
M E D I C A L P A Y M E N T S B E F O R E
T H E I R P R O C E D U R E
admitting services manager at Koo-
tenai. “We’ve found that patients
appreciate knowing well in advance
that everything on the insurance side
is in order.”
Natalie Spiller, financial clearance
specialist at Kootenai Cancer Center
in Post Falls, works one-on-one with
these patients.
“Cancer patients usually under-
estimate how much their treatment
will cost by as much as 80 percent,”
she said. “They are so thankful to
have someone talk with them about
what treatments cost, go over their
deductible, see what percentage of
the costs they will personally owe
and learn about assistance programs
that can help cover their financial
responsibility.”
Like Spiller, admissions staff mem-
bers at Kootenai now work with
patients to discuss their financial
obligations when they register for a
plannedprocedure. Not onlydoes this
give patients a clear understanding