Mark Lutes, Member of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice and Chair-Elect of the firm's Board of Directors, in the Washington, DC, office, is a featured attorney weighing in on continued projected growth in employer sponsored high deductible health plans, and what are the implications going forward for stakeholders?
Following is an excerpt:
High deductible plans are likely to have near and long-term impacts on delivery system participants. Among the near term challenges are the additional resources spent on collection efforts and lower overall revenue when those collection efforts fail. One mid-term impact is likely to be additional price competition among providers--web facilitated competition on the basis of lower costs to the price sensitive high deductible customer. Another mid-term impact can also be lower volumes--wherein the sticker shock of the cost of obtaining "elective" care--discourages workers from obtaining it. The consequential long term impact may be a gradual increase in the complexity of cases seen in the commercial population derived from the waiver of "elective care."
People
Chair—Board of Directors / Member of the Firm