To date, the site has raised over $53 million for patients' medical bills and out-of-pocket expenses.
An interesting question is whether directors of revenue integrity and CFO's of major hospitals would be interest in adopting the platform as a free, add-on service on their hospital websites. One hypothesis is that doing so might increase patient satisfaction and help recover more money from self-pay patients. Another is that it would be viewed as self-serving and tacky, rather than altruistic. If you are in an administrative capacity in a hospital, please send your thoughts on this question. Would this be interesting to you?
Not as large of an organization, but http://sinkorswimphiladelphia.org/ is a non-profit trying to accomplish similar goals in Philadelphia.
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily think it's tacky, but if a hospital is going to implement utilizing such platforms, they need to be willing to use it for ALL patients. Including controversial treatments and even elective (but sometimes necessary) procedures - for example, abortion care.
ReplyDeleteIf a hospital isn't willing to take every instance of a patient's need seriously, then leave it up to the "GiveForward" and health fund folks to take care of.
I'd be more likely to kick in if the hospital was billing at no higher than commercial payment rates. If they're charging the typically inflated uninsured/"rack rate", I'd have a hard time donating to a hospital-sponsored fund.
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