Managed care and third-party reimbursement issues have in many respects become the #1 issue facing hearing healthcare businesses—superseding worries about over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids, Medicare/Medicaid, and other important topics.
While reliable statistics are difficult to find, surveys and industry experts tend to indicate that, overall, managed care probably accounts for around 17% of new hearing aid buyers. However, recent surveys suggest that about 40-50% of all hearing aid purchases involve some kind of help in payment for the consumer, even though most managed care plans that include hearing aids cover only a limited dollar amount every few years.
Managed care contracts & third-party reimbursement are here to stay, there’s no doubt about it.
In our latest interview with The Hearing Review, Sycle CEO and Co-founder Ridge Sampson spoke with Chief Editor Karl Strom about the changing audiology market, how he views the role of managed care, third party reimbursement and how they’re influencing the hearing health field.
Click here to read the Hearing Review interview on managed care.
