The Role of Patient Financial Advocacy in Weathering the Pandemic

Healthcare providers know the financial perils of serving uninsured and underinsured patients. The high costs of bad debt, charity care, and increased accounts receivable (A/R) days can strain the bottom line significantly. Compounding the risk now is the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacts hospital revenue in multiple ways.

The primary goal of patient financial advocacy is to help patients meet their healthcare financial responsibilities. For uninsured patients, this means identifying, verifying eligibility, and connecting patients to public benefits programs. For underinsured patients who can’t afford their high deductibles and co-pays, it can mean finding supplemental insurance and other ways to help them cover out-of-pocket expenses.

As hospitals face depressed revenues for the foreseeable future, establishing a solid patient financial advocacy program can go a long way toward meeting financial goals.