AI helps patients fight back against skyrocketing medical bills
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — Patients across the United States are increasingly fighting back against high healthcare costs and billing errors with the help of artificial intelligence.
How AI is transforming medical billing disputes
It is now a case of patients fed up with the astronomical medical bills they are being asked to pay and using AI to fight back against hospitals and insurance companies.
Alicia Bittle, a 31-year-old mother of four, was shocked by the $14,017.62 bill she received when her newborn was admitted for two nights with what turned out to be Covid. When confronted with a $1,000 copay, Bittle took the time to review her itemized bill using Grok, an AI chatbot created by Elon Musk.
The AI analysis revealed that nearly all charges exceeded state and national averages, suggesting the bill should have been approximately half of what was charged. The majority of the expenses were for room and board ($7,000 for two nights) and emergency room fees ($2,261), which were both higher than average, according to the AI.
“This is theft,” Bittle labeled her inflated hospital bills in The New York Post. “I’m hopeful AI can change how medical billing and insurance is done, and give the American people the transparency we deserve.”
New companies emerging to support patients
The trend has led to new business opportunities. Since August, OpenHand, a New York City-based medical startup, has been advertising itself as an AI partner for patients when it comes to medical bills. The company’s technology can help with identifying billing errors and, in some cases, can even negotiate on behalf of patients with their providers.
Natalie Hayden, a patient advocate for those with inflammatory bowel disease, described tools like OpenHand as essential for people with chronic conditions.
“A lot of IBS patients struggle with costly medical bills, and their program finds discrepancies that you wouldn’t think to double-check,” Hayden remarked.
Healthcare providers are also feeling the benefits of AI technology. Lawyer Bryan Rotella helps doctors deal with insurance claim denials with the help of tools like ChatGPT, which can help predict the language most likely to succeed in appeals.
“AI can be a game-changer for one of the biggest frustrations in the doctor-patient relationship, which is insurance companies denying care and leaving doctors feeling they have no tools to help,” Rotella stated.
By 2025, this market is expected to generate $27 billion annually in revenue for AI-enabled healthcare services, which shows that this segment is set to grow as more patients are turning to technology to help them navigate the confusing healthcare billing system.
How outsourcing medical billing could ease patient burden
Healthcare providers that outsource their medical billing processes could significantly reduce the financial strain on patients. Using the services of specialized billing companies is also usually error-free and leads to correct claims, which are important to patients with high medical bills.
This is because when healthcare facilities work with outsourcing companies, there is more clarity in billing and fewer chances of unexpected charges to the patients. The reduction in the rate of administrative errors means that there will be fewer denied claims that would otherwise be billed to the patient. Furthermore, outsourced billing services often offer more detailed explanations of the charges, which can assist patients in understanding their financial responsibilities.
Therefore, healthcare providers are not tied up with the bureaucratic aspects of billing; hence, they can concentrate on the healthcare and treatment of the patient. This change of focus allows the medical personnel to spend more time with the patient and explain to them the treatment options and the costs associated with each in detail in order to avoid any future billing issues.
