Boston, April 23, 2020 – Between a highly fragmented third-party collection landscape, a lag in technology usage, and difficulty reaching the debtors, medical bill collection in the United States is overdue for a major overhaul—an overhaul that is even more important due to the ripple effects the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have on consumers’ employment status and health insurance benefits. Could upfront cost estimates and price transparency tools, digital and consumer-friendly payment plans and channels, and financial wellness guidance ease the burdens weighing down the medical bill collections world?

This report studies the current communication channels used for collections and the success rate of collections for medical bills, and it recommends technology tools and communications channels to help improve the rate of collections. It is based on a Q2 2019 Aite Group survey of 75 third-party debt collection professionals in the United States as well as 14 interviews with thought leaders across the United States in the third-party collections industry.

This 40-page Impact Report contains 34 figures and three tables. Clients of Aite Group’s Health Insurance service can download this report, the corresponding charts, and the Executive Impact Deck.

This report mentions GoFundMe, PayPal, TransUnion, Venmo, and Zelle.