Every year, Accessia Health works to ensure we are optimizing our program offerings to best serve the needs of our patients. We are pleased to announce improvements to how our assistance can be utilized within our programs. As a partner of Accessia Health, we wanted to inform you of these improvements and what they mean for our current and future patients.
Your Assistance. Your Choice.
Currently, assistance is subject to a defined dollar amount based on the type of assistance offered by Accessia Health. For example, a program may provide up to $2,000 for assistance with a copayment of medications and $3,000 for health insurance premiums.
Starting on May 1, 2023, financial assistance within each program will be consolidated into one total amount with restrictions only on travel. For example, this means that a program may now provide a total of up to $5,000 in assistance and can be used to assist with copayment, health insurance premiums, medical expenses, etc. as the recipient sees fit.
By providing our patients with one combined allotment for assistance, they will be able to use the funds based on their individual healthcare needs – we call this: Your Assistance. Your Choice. Note: Travel is the exception and will be restricted to a maximum amount of $500 per calendar year.
Here’s How Your Assistance. Your Choice. Will Work:
Patients in active programs will receive this announcement letter with instructions for the utilization of their remaining assistance. They will be able to use their funding on any expenses as needed – premium, medication copayments, travel, or medical expenses! However, they will only be able to use up to $500 of the annual limit toward travel assistance. If there is no need for travel assistance, they can utilize part or all of the $500 to pay for other eligible expenses.
Patients will receive the enclosed overview for more information. You can also scan the QR code below to view additional FAQs, and a video about this new, flexible way to utilize assistance.
IN ADDITION, we’ve been working hard to find more opportunities to support our patient’s healthcare journey and have two new partnerships to announce:
1. Burnalong, a digital wellness platform- available to the first 500 Accessia Health patients who register.
2. CaringWays, a secure care funding HIPAA-compliant platform that allows patients to raise funds on their own to pay for their medical expenses.
We value our partners and want to keep you informed about any updates that may impact our patients. Please feel free to reach out for any additional questions or concerns – we hope this prepares you to answer any questions your patients or providers might direct your way.
Your Assistance. Your Choice. (OVERVIEW)
We’re excited to provide patients with the ability to use their assistance in a way that best meets each individual’s healthcare needs. Starting May 1, 2023, patients will have access to use assistance to pay for the following items related to their program diagnosis:
- MEDICATION CO-PAYMENT ASSISTANCE: An Accessia Health Pharmacy Card should be used (along with a primary insurance card, when applicable) at the pharmacy for the FDA approved medications prescribed to patients. If someone did not previously receive this assistance, a card will be mailed to them on or about May 1, 2023.
- HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUM ASSISTANCE: There are a few different ways Accessia Health can assist with your health insurance premiums. Patients not previously receiving this assistance should contact Accessia Health directly for assistance in setting this up.
- TRAVEL & MEDICAL EXPENSES ASSISTANCE: If patients do not already have one, we will mail an Accessia Health Payment Assistance Card (VISA) around May 1, 2023. The card can be used for the items below.
- Travel expenses include gas, tolls, parking, overnight accommodations, and ground/air transportation.
- Medical expenses include but are not limited to:
- Symptom Management Treatments
- Testing: Laboratory, Pathology, Radiology, and Diagnostic
- Durable Medical Equipment (DME)
- Therapy Services: Occupational, Physical, Speech and Counseling
- Nursing Services and Infusion Therapy Costs
- Important reminders:
- Claims must be related to the program diagnosis.
- The date of service must occur after your assistance begins date to be eligible for payment.
- Claims must be paid within 4 months of the date of service.
- Retain all receipts and documentation related to transactions. Audits are performed to ensure compliance with program guidelines and all transactions are subject to audit.
BURNALONG WELLNESS
Wellness is an important part of each person’s healthcare journey but living with a chronic condition can make maintaining a healthy lifestyle challenging. Burnalong is a digital health solution that offers live and on-demand classes from 5,000+ instructors in 60+ wellness categories.
As an active Accessia Health patient, we are offering a FREE subscription to the Burnalong platform to the first 500 patients that register. Active patients should log in to their patient portal account to take advantage of this opportunity.
CARINGWAYS – INDIVIDUAL CAREFUNDING
Accessia Health & CaringWays® have teamed up to bring an exclusive opportunity for friends and family to help patients pay for medical expenses.
CaringWays® is a private, secure HIPAA-compliant care funding platform that partners directly with organizations, like Accessia Health, to help friends and family members support a patient’s medical journey with greater ease, confidence, and security.
Unlike other platforms, all donations to the CaringWays campaign may be tax-deductible! Patients can create their own CaringWays® campaign or a loved one can create a campaign on behalf of the patient. Active patients should log in into their patient portal account to take advantage of this opportunity. You do not have to be an Accessia Health patient to create a CaringWays campaign! Individuals can visit www.accessiahealth.org to learn more and to create their care funding campaign.
Please note: Our partnership with CaringWays is not a traditional Accessia Health financial assistance program but rather a new way for patients to collect financial support on their own to pay for healthcare costs.
It is truly an honor to support patients on their healthcare journey. We hope these changes will make their journey a little bit easier.
