Unanswered Questions from the Potential ACA Repeal

Welcome to the latest edition of the Physicians Practice Pearls Podcast. In this podcast, we'll bring you some of the most interesting and influential guests in healthcare. If you have any ideas for podcast guests or topics, email us at editor@physicianspractice.com.

When it comes to healthcare changes this year, what should practices know about? Rick Judy, health industries management consulting leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) Health Research Institute, summed it up nicely: "There is a never dull moment within healthcare; there is a lot of change ahead of us."

Judy joined the Physicians Practice Pearls podcast to talk with us about PwC's Health Research Institute's recently released report, "Top health industry issues of 2017: A year of uncertainty and opportunity." Specifically, he spoke about the issues that would have the biggest impact on small practices.

Some of these issues are obvious, such as the potential repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). For small practices, the biggest unknown regarding the fallout, Judy says, centers around patient access. Will patients have access to physicians if they get their insurance through the ACA and it's repealed? " …We don't have a lot of answers right know [on the ACA repeal]…but that's the one we have to grapple with."

Other top issues of 2017, according to the Health Research Institute, may be less obvious to small practice physicians, such as modernizing payments for a more consumer-oriented experience. "Healthcare is behind in payments and modernizing their payments, 5 percent of revenue [for providers] is coming through credit card transactions. What we see coming is a greater emphasis on credit cards and payment technology to improve the patient experience," Judy says.

For the other pertinent issues to small practices, click to play the podcast above.