Latest news with #medicalpayments
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
No cash, no checks. Erie hospital now requires patients pay with credit or debit card
Visiting Saint Vincent Hospital or one of its medical offices for a procedure or exam? Make sure to take a credit or debit card with you. Allegheny Health Network, Saint Vincent's parent organization, is no longer accepting cash or checks for most medical payments made at the hospital or in the office. The new policy took effect July 7. "This policy change allows us to reduce administrative costs, strengthen the security of our payment processing, and improve record-keeping," AHN officials said in a statement. "Reducing physical contact with paper currency and checks also reduces the spread of germs, improving infection control." The Pittsburgh-based health system accepts all major credit and debit cards, including those attached to health savings and flexible spending accounts. Exceptions will be made for patients who don't have a credit or debit card. "AHN will not turn away patients at the point of care," AHN officials said. AHN continues to accept cash at nonclinical locations, including cafeterias, vending machines and gift shops. UPMC still accepts cash and checks for copayments and other payments at its hospitals and medical offices, according to a UPMC Hamot spokeswoman. It wasn't immediately known what payments are accepted at UPMC-GoHealth Urgent Care centers. Contact David Bruce at dbruce@ Follow him on X @ETNBruce. This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Cash, checks no longer accepted at Saint Vincent for medical services
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
When the data is the story: reporting on the doctors on Big Pharma's payroll
Every so now and then I'll encounter a database that's a real feat of engineering. Despite aggregating an enormous amount of data, it works seamlessly and is intuitive to use for members of the public and researchers alike. Open Payments is one of those databases: It publishes tens of millions of transaction records every year, allowing patients to see how much money their doctors have received from pharma and medical device companies within seconds. At nearly 750,000 entries, the dataset of transactions between companies and medical practitioners in Cincinnati was extensive. It covered $136 million worth of payments over the past seven years and is the largest dataset I have analyzed on the job. While it required many rounds of analysis, gut checks, and calls and texts with those more data savvy than I – Open Payments allowed me to identify the highest earning doctors in industry payments in the Cincinnati area and interview them. Writing this story has reinforced my belief that often, the data is the story. Having access to a detailed, easily searchable, and publicly available database also allowed me to ask readers to search their own doctors and relay what they found back to me. A dozen readers responded to our survey, while a few more wrote emails. People wrote in about their primary care doctors, surgeons and cardiologists, who received payments ranging from less than $100 to millions of dollars. They worked at TriHealth, UC Health, Bon Secours Mercy Health, and Christ Hospital, along with a couple private equity-owned physician groups. Using the database elicited varying reactions in readers. Joan Doyle, who was disappointed to find at least a dozen of her family's doctors had received industry money, had mixed feelings. She said she loves her doctors but wondered what their industry ties might mean for the quality and cost of care provided to herself, her husband and their daughter. Sandy Pittman, of Cleves, felt differently. 'I really don't care, because I trust my doctors enough,' shared Pittman, who looked up the records of her cardiologist. 'That's the biggest thing.' This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reporting on the doctors on Big Pharma's payroll
