Effective July 1, Iowa City-based University of Iowa Health Care will no longer accept cash or checks for co-payments or other medical expenses, according to The Des Moines Register.
The move to "cashless" will help the health system reduce administrative costs by removing cash handling expenses. An average of 3 percent of payments to UIHC are currently made in cash.
"We are always looking at how to reduce expenses in ways that do not affect patient care quality and safety," Tom Moore, a spokesman for UIHC, wrote in an email to The Des Moines Resister.
Mr. Moore said similar policies exist at Stanford University and other West Coast facilities. However, UIHC is the first Iowa system to make the change, according to the report.