Health benefits counseling and the birth of MCP
My Coverage Plan emerged from ABC for Health's health benefits counseling work at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin.
Since 2001, ABC's health benefits counselors have been helping un- and under-insured St. Mary's patients connect to health care coverage resources. Health benefits counselors work with patients to:
- Identify health care financing resources
- Troubleshoot health insurance denials
- Identify other resource programs to optimize available resources
- Catch individuals on the edges of benefits programs
Out of this ground-level experience with clients, ABC for Health developed the prototype for MCP, a database that helps benefits counselors collect and store patient data, and determine patient eligibility for coverage programs.
Great results at St. Mary's Hospital
ABC's health benefits counseling work at St. Mary's hospital has been a huge success. Working with an MCP prototype, ABC has helped thousands of patients access coverage and brought St. Mary's thousands of dollars in reimbursements.
In 2009, St. Mary’s received on average $32 in reimbursements for every $1 paid for health benefits services using MCP.
Health benefits counseling using an MCP prototype yields a monetary benefit for St. Mary’s Hospital. Each month ABC monitors the rate of return to the hospital on their investment in ABC's health benefits counseling services. The data ABC collects typically reflects the firm's first encounter with the patient. It does not include longer-term savings to the patient and the hospital that results from secured and maintained health coverage.
Click here (pdf) for more information about ABC for Health's work at St. Mary's.
