Health iPASS Announces Our Nomination for the 2018 Chicago Innovation Awards

We have exciting new to share! Health iPASS has been nominated for the 2018 Chicago Innovation Awards which recognizes pioneering products and services created by Chicago-based businesses. Even back in 2015, Chicago was thought to be the future hub of healthcare IT due to its high concentration of prestigious medical associations such as The American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), groundbreaking teaching hospitals, and influential healthcare publications. Chicago is also home to a large number of payer and practice management system headquarters. Certainly, Health iPASS is proud and grateful to be a part of such a robust and extensive healthcare IT community with the support of so many talented individuals within our network.

Let’s address the elephant in the room for a second—we all know the use of the word “innovation” has been hotly debated among marketing professionals. There is no doubt that the term has been grossly misused to pretty much just mean “cool” to many people. But what is innovation, really? And what does a product or company need to have achieved to deserve the use of this loaded word?

 Guideline #1: Innovation addresses old and/or emerging problems with new solutions.

How this applies to Health iPASS:

The rise of patient-as-payer is a fairly new and largely uncomfortable conundrum for the healthcare industry to confront. The literature shows that patients have experienced an 11% increase in out-of-pocket spending in 2017 alone. As this trend grows, old billing and collection methods will leave providers walking away from millions in lost revenue.

Another looming issue in healthcare is the call for greater price transparency. Multiple states across the nation have enacted legislation requiring providers to publicize the costs of the most common and/or standard procedures.

Health iPASS addresses both of these problems with our multi-channel, user-friendly patient revenue cycle tool that delivers cost estimates for patients, so they can know what they will owe before, at, and after provider visits. The Health iPASS solution also allows for pre-collection of prior balances, convenient (one-swipe?) collection of payment at the time-of-service and provides payment assurance for post adjudication balances with a payment-on-file.

Health iPASS is constantly evolving in order to adapt to a dynamic healthcare landscape by providing the tools and features our clients and their patients need.

 Guideline #2: While innovation is not the same thing as technology, it is often facilitated by it.

How this applies to Health iPASS:

It is certainly possible to produce innovation without technology, and too often the term “innovation” is used to simply mean that technology is being applied to an existing problem where it was not applied before. Unfortunately, there are times when the use of technology actually complicates a situation further.

However, there is no denying that many of the true innovations we are seeing today have been facilitated, and even driven, by technology. Health iPASS partners with healthcare providers to significantly cut the time and costs to collect associated with traditional payment models with minimal onboarding and activation time. Our patient RCM solution has been created to seamlessly integrate with over 90+ practice management systems and provides on-site training and activation support. We avoid the complications and lengthy implementation processes often associated with the adoption of new tech while freeing up practice teams to focus on their core competencies - patient care.

 Guideline #3: Innovation adds value for consumers and clients.

How this applies to Health iPASS:

While it’s true that Health iPASS has enabled clients to realize a 90-95% patient net collection rate and to collect an average 97% of residual balances, our patient RCM solution adds value for our clients and their patients even beyond provider monetary benefits.

Our user-friendly, iPad-based kiosks offer a quick and convenient way for patients to check-in, make payments, and view cost estimates while improving practice workflows and reducing patient front-desk bottlenecks. Greater price transparency and providing the payment experience patients want boosts patient satisfaction and retention. What provider doesn’t want that?

 Guideline #4: Innovation often involves leaving a comfort zone in order to stay relevant.

How this applies to Health iPASS:

Let’s face it— taking advantage of an innovation often calls for a leap of faith. Innovations, by their very nature, are out of step with the status quo. We’ve all heard the adage, “Without risk, there is no reward.” In this case, optimizing patient net collections requires providers to be willing to consider new payment models that include automation, time-of-service payment, and keeping a patient card-on-file for residual balances—all features of the Health iPASS patient RCM solution. Some providers are concerned these types of changes will not be embraced by patients, but this assumption is incorrect. The existing research actually supports these changes and shows that the modern healthcare consumer actually prefers these updated billing and collection procedures. Time for providers to leave that comfort-zone to future-proof their practices, allowing them to continue delivering quality care to patients.

Health iPASS is honored by the nomination for the 2018 Chicago Innovation Awards. We look forward to seeing the results and networking with other Chicago-based organizations that share our dedication to providing innovative solutions to all kinds of problems.