According to an MGMA survey, only around 29 percent of medical groups plan to participate as network providers in health insurance exchange programs.
An additional 40 percent of the groups are studying their options. The biggest barrier cited by 85 percent of the undecided groups is below average payment rates from the plans sold on the exchange. Another 82 percent expressed anxiety about collecting from newly insured patients, many of which will likely be covered under high deductible plans.
Among groups that have decided to become a provider with the exchange plan, 57.7 percent say it will be an opportunity to stay competitive in the marketplace and around half see it replacing charity care patients with insured ones. Finally, 42 percent said they were participating as an opportunity to provide care for the underserved patient population.
However, nearly half — 40.5 percent — of the groups surveyed were pessimistic about how the exchanges would impact their practices. The 14 percent that said they wouldn't sign up as network providers cited administrative and regulatory burdens from the plans most frequently as the reason why. Another 61.9 percent cited concerns about financial burdens from patient collections and 59 percent felt participating would put their practice at financial risk.
Around 39.1 percent of the practices feel the exchanges will slightly increase patient volume and 28.4 percent feel there will be no change.
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