OODA Health, a healthcare technology company focused on empowering patients and providers with real-time healthcare payments, has launched its first product, OODAPay, following the success of recent pilot studies.
OODAPay is a cloud-based platform that directly addresses the burden of billing administration for both providers and payers. The solution shifts the responsibility of collecting patient payments from providers to payers so that providers can focus on delivering care and payers own the member financial experience. The OODAPay approach meaningfully improves the patient billing experience and creates opportunities for higher payment collections.
OODA Health launched a pilot program at CommonSpirit Health hospitals in Arizona with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona earlier this year, achieving an unprecedented 96% member satisfaction rate. More recently, OODAPay was launched at CommonSpirit Health hospitals in California with Blue Shield of California. Additional launches with payers and providers across the country are planned later this year and next.
Currently, most patients struggle to track, manage, and pay their bills, while providers shoulder the burden of bad debt. Meanwhile, payers depend on this flawed system to administer benefit designs and miss an important engagement opportunity with patients. This creates a perfect storm of uncoordinated communications and patient confusion, resulting in poor repayment rates and frustration for everyone. The continued growth of high-deductible health plans exacerbates the problem.
In a recent industry survey from HIMSS and OODA Health, 72 percent of patients are confused by their explanation of benefits (EOB) and 70 percent of patients are confused by their medical bills.
With OODAPay, payers and providers address one of patients’ greatest pain points–the billing experience–with a fast, simplified and convenient approach to paying their medical bills. Using OODAPay, payers leverage their position in the finance of healthcare and can design new products with meaningful incentives, provide concierge billing services and even offer financing for elective care. OODAPay enables providers to focus exclusively on delivering high-quality care – all while achieving a superior member experience, receiving guaranteed payment rates and lowering administrative expenses simultaneously.
Both payers and providers experience these benefits with minimal change to their current processes. Patients enjoy unprecedented access to one-stop concierge support services and convenience with the ability to view a single consolidated medical bill in one place, pay via the channel most convenient to them, and set up payment plans with no interest.
“OODAPay enables each party to do what they do best to serve patient needs: providers focus exclusively on delivering high-quality care, and payers can offer their members a simpler, consumer-centric billing and payment experience,” said Seth Cohen, co-founder and president of OODA Health. “According to our data, 96% of patients from the pilot report a better experience when using the OODAPay billing service through their health plan.”
“Leveraging OODA Health’s technology and processes helps us increase collaboration with payers and create a more positive experience for patients within and beyond the hospital walls,” said Steve Scharmann, vice president of revenue cycle at Dignity Health, a part of CommonSpirit Health. “At CommonSpirit Health, we understand that the stress of anticipating a confusing medical bill can affect a patient’s healing. OODAPay helps to prioritize the relationship between patients and providers so their health remains the primary focus of care.”
“We have tried for over a decade to make healthcare bills a single bill and a one-stop shop. With our partnership with OODA Health, we’re able to consolidate billing, and the patient can make a single phone call to the OODA Health customer service reps and talk to someone who has insight from both the health plans and providers. The time to do this is now and we’ve seen this drastically improve the patient experience,” added Scharmann.
CommonSpirit Health patients involved in OODAPay’s pilot in Arizona reported that their new healthcare billing and payment experience is drastically simpler, easier to understand, and user friendly.
“One of our highest priorities is to create simple, easy to access healthcare solutions that help Arizonans lead healthier lives,” said Pam Kehaly, president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. “Our partnership with OODA Health, and Dignity Health, is a great example of how we’re working to simplify the healthcare journey for our members. Through OODAPay, our members will see all services, consolidated and clarified on a single bill, so they can spend less time navigating the billing system and more time getting healthier. The healthcare industry is rapidly changing, and we are proud to be on the technology forefront with innovative programs that truly serve our members, and drive the evolution of the healthcare experience.”
“We are continuously hearing that members are frustrated with surprise bills and confused by paperwork, such as an Explanation of Benefits, after they receive medical care, and that physicians are reaching peak burnout with growing administrative tasks. However, with our pilot leveraging OODAPay, patients enjoy a consistent payment experience for all their in-network claims while lifting the burden from payers and providers. We’re trying to get to a place where a patient can leave a doctor’s appointment or check out of a hospital with the clarity and transparency of checking out of a hotel or at a cash register at Target,” said Jeff Semenchuck, chief innovation officer and senior vice president of Blue Shield of California.
