Data Mining Helps Hospitals Pry Fees from Patients

Even the Sisters of Charity sometimes need help collecting bills. That's where Conifer Health Solutions comes in. Conifer is among a handful of software companies that hospitals, like those run by the Catholic order, hire to collect payments from patients. The goal: to catch patients before they leave the hospital and eliminate collection headaches down the road.

Conifer, a unit of Tenet Healthcare (THC), and Accretive Health focus on collecting from "self-pay" hospital patients who make too much to qualify for charity care. In elective procedure cases, the companies may ask patients to fill out questionnaires. These provide data for software that assesses health and life insurance policies, income, credit reports, house ownership, even memberships in groups that may offer supplemental coverage, and helps determine how likely patients are to pay.