MANAGED CARE February 1998. ©1998 Stezzi Communications
Medical groups give more ground to insurers
Discounts that physician group practices give managed care companies are growing ever-deeper. A survey by the Medical Group Management Association found that the percentage of the full charge for a service billed by group practices, called the fee-for-service gross collection percentage, dipped from 73.1 percent in 1995 to 71.9 percent in 1996, an all-time low.
Fewer bad debts
While discount rates are increasing, bad debt is becoming less of a problem. Fee-for-service adjusted gross percentage — the amount of billed charges actually collected — increased 0.7 percentage points to a record 97.0 percent in 1996. MGMA cites better information systems and increased use of automated billing for more effective collection of patient revenue.
SOURCE: COST SURVEY: 1997 REPORT BASED ON 1996 DATA, MEDICAL GROUP MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION, ENGLEWOOD, COLO., 1997