What You Should Know: Rising healthcare expenses, lack of certainty over costs and financial support and poor coordination between providers and payers have caused consumers to feel more stressed than ever before about their healthcare bills. According to the 2024 Healthcare Financial Experience Study, 72% of consumers cite affordability as the biggest challenge to paying larger healthcare bills—not that they don’t want to. Struggling to afford healthcare bills isn’t just a headache, it can
Read More
Cedar
17 Executive Hospital/Health System Predictions to Watch in 2023
Vijay Kedar, Co-Founder and CEO at Tomorrow Health Health systems will realize their challenges are not transitory but systemic: This year saw health systems facing a myriad of compounding threats – from historic inflation exacerbating their cost structures, front-line clinician burnout driving widespread labor shortages, and increased capacity issues that left patients in hospital facilities one full day longer than in the prior year. As the financial markets turned south, many institutions
Read More
20 Executives Share Health IT Predictions to Watch in 2023
We asked several healthcare executives to share their health IT predictions and trends for 2023. Nate Maslak, the co-founder/CEO of Ribbon Health Data Personalization: 38% of consumers want more personalized and inclusive healthcare options. In 2023, we’ll see a greater shift towards healthcare enterprises prioritizing this personalization, by innovating their current data infrastructure to show a range of information that lets a patient make an educated care decision based on what
Read More
Cedar Launches Payer Intelligence Layer to Integrate Payer-Provider Data
What You Should Know: - To address the systemic challenges consumers face when paying for healthcare, Cedar, an enterprise healthcare engagement platform that improves the end-to-end consumer financial journey, has developed the Payer Intelligence Layer. - With the Payer Intelligence Layer, Cedar can now integrate data from health insurers and healthcare providers to help create a single source of information for consumers managing medical bills. A game-changer for the healthcare industry,
Read More
Payers Must Increasingly See The Consumer As The Customer
Last year, the average annual premium for employer-sponsored family health coverage rose 4% to $22,221—including employer and worker contributions—according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. While employers are most often the ones selecting the health plan options and insurance for employees, the worker is the one who is left to navigate the healthcare continuum (including their true cost of care). In a recent study, 96% of patients indicated that the quality of their financial experience
Read More
4 Keys to Delivering A Retail-Like Patient Experience Journey
When it comes to the quality of their healthcare journey, patients, it seems, are losing patience with their healthcare providers. In Cedar’s latest Healthcare Consumer Experience Study, for example, the share of consumers who said they won't pay a bill if they cannot understand the administrative experience tripled from 2020 to 2021, to 37%. A vast majority (93%) indicated the quality of the billing and payment experience is important to their decision to return to a healthcare provider in
Read More
Cedar Launches Cedar Pre to Transform Patient Financial Experience
What You Should Know: - Cedar launches Cedar Pre to deliver seamless and comprehensive healthcare experiences to consumers preparing for care. - By leveraging Cedar’s expanded patient engagement suite, providers can empower patients with unprecedented access and affordability from pre-registration and intake through final payment. Cedar, a New York City-based healthcare financial technology platform built for today’s consumers, today announced the launch of Cedar Pre, an
Read More
3 Trends Impacting the Financial Health of Patients and Providers in 2022
It's an unfortunate reality of our times: Healthcare in the United States has become increasingly unaffordable, challenging patients, providers, and pharmacies alike. One in 5 adults reported they can’t afford quality care. Uncompensated care hovers around $40B annually. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to strain the resources of our healthcare system. What lies ahead? Against a backdrop of growing financial burden, these three trends tell the story of where healthcare affordability is
Read More
Medical Bills Continue to Plague Consumers as Source of Anxiety, Mystery and Frustration
What You Should Know: - More than half (55%) of consumers find it stressful paying a medical bill, understanding their plan's coverage and benefits (53%) or comprehending what they owe (53%), according to results of Cedar’s Annual Healthcare Consumer Experience Study. - 4 in 10 (41%) are unsatisfied with their billing experiences, and nearly 90% of consumers would find it at least "somewhat useful" if their healthcare provider posted pricing information on their website around expected
Read More
Cedar, athenahealth Partner to Bring Personalized, Digital-First Financial Experience to Patients
What You Should Know: Marketplace inclusion of Cedar Pay enables athenahealth clients to enhance their patient financial engagement capabilities, optimizing patient interactions and boosting operational efficiency. Cedar, an NYC-based healthcare financial technology platform, today announced a partnership with athenahealth, Inc. through the company's Marketplace program. As part of the athenahealth® Marketplace, Cedar Pay is now available to athenahealth's growing network of healthcare
Read More
