70 Percent of Americans Concerned About Cost of COVID-19 Testing and Treatment

SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Alpha Health, the first Unified Automation company for revenue cycle management in healthcare, released the results of a national online survey designed to assess how concerned Americans are about the cost of COVID-19 testing and treatment and if these concerns would prevent them from seeking care.

The survey results show consumer concerns related to the cost of COVID-19 testing and treatment are high. Fortunately, the survey results also indicate that these concerns would not prevent the majority of Americans from seeking care should they need it. However, one in five Americans (22 percent) indicate that cost concerns would prevent them from seeking testing and treatment for COVID-19. This could significantly hinder public health efforts to effectively address the disease.

Survey respondents were asked, “If you or someone in your family had COVID-19 symptoms, how concerned would you be about the cost of testing or treatment?”

Survey respondents were also asked, “Would concerns about the cost of COVID-19 testing or treatment cause you to avoid seeking care if you or someone in your family had suspected COVID-19 symptoms?”

“Health systems have had to dramatically reorient resources to respond to COVID-19,” said Malinka Walaliyadde, co-founder and CEO of Alpha Health. “This is equally true for their teams focused on the patient financial experience and revenue cycle operations. Health systems need to not only address and allay fears related to COVID-19, but also need to inform their communities about financial support and out-of-pocket costs for COVID-19 testing and treatment. These efforts will be critical to putting the American public at ease about the medical costs of COVID-19, and ensuring that we, as a country, are able to perform the comprehensive testing needed to recover”

“Revenue cycle leaders at health systems may need to rely on automation tools to provide business continuity and staffing flexibility while they adapt their teams in real-time to address the shifting needs of their health system and how best to serve their patients,” added Varun Ganapathi, co-founder and chief technology officer of Alpha Health. “Accurate and efficient revenue cycle operations serve as the foundation for providing positive patient financial experiences. Protecting people from the stress of surprise or inaccurate medical bills is part of protecting their overall health and well being.”

The survey was commissioned by Alpha Health and conducted by SurveyMonkey via an online poll. The survey was conducted April 17-23, 2020 among 5,379 adults ages 18 and older in the United States. Data have been weighted for age, race, sex, education and geography using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to reflect the demographic composition of the United States. The modeled error estimate rate for the full sample is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

About Alpha Health
At Alpha Health we believe every dollar spent on healthcare matters because healthcare matters to everyone. The first Unified Automation company for healthcare, Alpha Health uses the same machine learning approaches that made driverless cars possible to provide health systems with a single solution for revenue cycle management (RCM). Alpha Health’s proprietary Unified Automation technology operates within a healthcare system’s existing electronic health record and revenue cycle infrastructure. Alpha Health’s Unified Automation brings together the best of people, data and technology to efficiently, accurately and autonomously navigate the complex state of medical reimbursement in the United States. This enables health systems to reduce their cost of care and be better stewards of the healthcare dollar. Alpha Health is based in the heart of Silicon Valley. Learn more at www.alphahealth.com.

Media Contact:
Catherine Afarian
Alpha Health
Head of Corporate Communications
408.656.8872
Cat.Afarian@alphahealth.com

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SOURCE Alpha Health