--- title: Patients are Payers, Hospitals are Debt Collectors description: In the past, hospitals worried about patients without insurance not paying their bills. Now the struggle is getting patients with insurance to pay their bi image: https://www.medcomsolutions.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/patients-768x432.jpg --- - [Home](https://www.medcomsolutions.com) - [Blog](https://www.medcomsolutions.com/blog) - Patients are Payers, Hospitals are Debt Collectors **November 20, 2018** # Patients are Payers, Hospitals are Debt Collectors - [** ](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://www.medcomsolutions.com/blog/patients) - [** ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https://www.medcomsolutions.com/blog/patients&url=https://www.medcomsolutions.com/blog/patients&source=tweetbutton&text=%3Cspan+id%3D%22hs_cos_wrapper_name%22+class%3D%22hs_cos_wrapper+hs_cos_wrapper_meta_field+hs_cos_wrapper_type_text%22+style%3D%22%22+data-hs-cos-general-type%3D%22meta_field%22+data-hs-cos-type%3D%22text%22+%3EPatients+are+Payers%2C+Hospitals+are+Debt+Collectors%3C%2Fspan%3E) - [** ](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.medcomsolutions.com/blog/patients) ![Patients are Payers, Hospitals are Debt Collectors](https://www.medcomsolutions.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/patients-768x432.jpg?length=940&name=patients-768x432.jpg) In the past, hospitals worried about patients without insurance not paying their bills. Now the struggle is getting patients *with insurance* to pay their bills. That’s thanks in large part to [high-deductible health plans](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-15/doctors-are-fed-up-with-being-turned-into-debt-collectors), which have increased burden on patients to cover their medical care. Since 2009, the number of Americans with high-deductible health plans has risen by [22 percent](https://www.kff.org/report-section/ehbs-2017-section-7-employee-cost-sharing/attachment/figure%207_12-14/). The higher out-of-pocket costs these plans entail mean greater difficulty for healthcare providers collecting reimbursement. **In short, it’s harder to collect from a patient than it is to collect from insurance. ** The new patient-payer model has been especially hard on independent physicians, who consistently rank reimbursement pressures at the top of their greatest challenges. As a result, many independent physicians are joining larger health systems out of necessity. Though uncompensated care reached its peak just before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, and dropped precipitously thereafter, it has shown an uptick in recent years. **And trying to get patients to pay their bills is in itself a revenue drain. ** A recent study by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that primary care physicians at academic health systems lose a whopping 15 percent of their revenue due to billing work. Hospitals are now investing tens of millions of dollars in solutions, ranging from billing software and patient call centers to programs that help patients understand their responsibility at the point of care. **Boost Revenue with MedCom Solutions** MedCom Solutions provides a unique combination of clinical expertise and proprietary technology to help medical service providers meet rapidly escalating and changing medical billing demands. Our Chargemaster, Pricing, and Compliance solutions have yielded hundreds of millions in net revenue for healthcare providers across the country. Learn more about [our solutions](http://042f6b6.netsolhost.com/solutions/) or [visit our homepage](http://042f6b6.netsolhost.com/) or [contact us](http://042f6b6.netsolhost.com/contact/) today! - [**](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?source=https%3A%2F%2Fmedcomsolutions.com%2Fpatients%2F&text=Patients%20are%20Payers,%20Hospitals%20are%20Debt%20Collectors) - [**](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedcomsolutions.com%2Fpatients%2F&t=Patients%20are%20Payers,%20Hospitals%20are%20Debt%20Collectors) - [**](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedcomsolutions.com%2Fpatients%2F&title=Patients%20are%20Payers,%20Hospitals%20are%20Debt%20Collectors) ## Recent Posts *June 4, 2026* ### [Look Before You Leap Into Epic: Protect Your Revenue Before the Big Transition](https://www.medcomsolutions.com/blog/look-before-you-leap-into-epic-protect-your-revenue-before-the-big-transition) Epic conversions promise streamlined workflows, modernized patient experiences, and improved integration across clinical and financial systems. 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