Increasing education about the complex healthcare billing process may not only benefit patients but providers as well.
That's the premise of a new book written by Laurie DeSantis-Kapetanakis, director of patient financial services at Norfolk, Va.-based Children's Specialty Group and executive director of revenue cycle company Healthcare Revenue Logic.
The book, titled Beat the Bills! How to Understand the Financial Side of Healthcare, was published in April.
Ms. DeSantis-Kapetanakis said she decided to write the book after more than 40 years working with patients on billing concerns to help the average person better understand some basic concepts about healthcare billing.
"What consumers need to realize, in today's struggle with escalating out-of-pocket healthcare costs, is the need to become better educated on their own benefits," she told Becker's.
"Secondly, the consumers need to know the 'right' questions to ask their provider's office staff before they make the call. If they became more savvy on some key points related to the revenue cycle, then perhaps, payments to providers may increase, fewer calls to billing offices, and most importantly, the consumer would become more knowledgeable in the basic terminology."
More information about the book is available here.
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