Health care costs continue to rise, and so do insurance premiums. As a result, employers and insurance companies continue to increase patient financial responsibilities to manage the escalating costs of health insurance. The increased patient financial
responsibilities result in higher copayments, coinsurance amounts and deductibles.
Because of these increases, UTMB is modifying collection policies for patient financial responsibility, which will be consistent with collection practices across the health care industry. The services affected include clinic visits, elective surgical
procedures and other elective procedures such as imaging, endoscopy and cardiac catheterization.
All patients with financial responsibility, including those with commercial insurance or Medicare and those who are self-insured, will be expected to pay the full portion of their costs (copay, coinsurance amounts and deductibles) at the time of service
or in advance of an elective procedure.
These modifications will begin Feb. 1 for clinic visits, Feb. 15 for elective surgeries and March 1 for elective non-surgical procedures.