Lack of Transparency Continues to Haunt HHS

A lack of information is driving consumers into poor health care choices, and Health and Human Services is to blame; at least according tothe Government Accountability Office.

In a 43-page report released this September, the office slammed HHS, claiming that a lack of transparency is keeping consumers from easily accessing the pricing information of health care plans until after they are already covered. FierceHealthcare summarizes, “In one example, the agency contacted a variety of physician offices to get the price of a diabetes screening--and was consistently told an office visit was required prior to disclosure of such a price. The GAO also noted that the negotiated prices between an insurer and provider were often kept from consumers for legal and trade purposes.”

Transparency in HHS is not a new topic. In fact, the department was criticized for similar reasons when they removed public access to National Practitioner Data Bank in early September.

This new report, the creation of which was heavily pushed by congress, has found a severe lack of initiative from HHS when it comes totransparency.

Several health care and legal factors may make it difficult for consumers to obtain price information for the health care services they receive, particularly estimates of what their complete costs will be. The health care factors include the difficulty of predicting health care services in advance, billing from multiple providers, and the variety of insurance benefit structures.

The entire industry is keeping a close eye on this developing story, and Merrill Corporation will be among them.

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Pam Argeris is a thought leader in the Healthcare Industry and possesses extensive, hands-on experience with CMS compliance, and multiple regulatory bodies such as NCQA, JACHO, and DOI. In her role at Merrill Corp., Pam focuses on developing solutions for compliance and quality assurance, delivered in a cost effective manner to improve beneficiary and prospect communications. You can contact Pam at Pamela.Argeris@merrillcorp.com.

Insurance Provider Shows the Way: Simple TIPS for Getting Started on Twitter

An industry leading insurance provider recently launched out into the Twitter world with their (here’s an article with more information: from the Cleveland Plain Dealer).

It’s inspiring to see Healthcare providers taking this step to better address customers needs, first by listening to what they are saying and then by responding and providing a gateway to answers, wherever those customers are seeking help.

Everyday people ask for advice on how to use Twitter - and sometimes even why they should bother.

The Why is easy:

• Twitter is a viable business information, interaction and customer service micro-blogging tool.
• You can gain access to a tremendous amount of information on Twitter.
• More and more companies will offer the Twitter option for Customer Service.

If that's not enough, some experts say there probably will come a time when a Twitter address is as common as email.

As with anything, getting started is hard.

Here are some tips that may help:

• Listen to the conversations that are taking place. Use keyword search (#yourname here) to identify what’s being said.
• Don't expect too much too soon. It takes time. And you will often hear from those with problems moreso than those that like what you do.
• Use the search tool to find topics of interest to you and people that follow you.
• Say something of interest ... join the conversation.
• Tell people you are on Twitter ... add it to your signature line on email.
• Stick with it. 

Twitter is a simple tool that enables better communication on all sorts of topics. It’s also your chance to better serve customers.

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Pam Argeris is a thought leader in the Healthcare Industry and possesses extensive, hands-on experience with CMS compliance, and multiple regulatory bodies such as NCQA, JACHO, and DOI. In her role at Merrill Corp., Pam focuses on developing solutions for compliance and quality assurance, delivered in a cost effective manner to improve beneficiary and prospect communications. You can contact Pam at Pamela.Argeris@merrillcorp.com.