Wednesday, December 15, 2004
New HSA brochure available for physicians
[Editorial, "Inform your patients about HSAs," American Medical News, 20 December 2004.]
The American Medical Association now has a downloadable brochure available for doctors to display in their waiting rooms:
One key to the success of HSAs will be making sure that patients are knowledgeable and, in turn, comfortable about moving away from the health coverage to which they've grown accustomed.
That's where a new AMA brochure, "Health Savings Accounts at a Glance," will come in particularly handy.
The brochure is a concise primer on HSAs. It explains how they work, what patients should do if they want one and their employer doesn't offer one, and gives sources of additional information. It also distills numerous government regulations on HSAs into an easily readable format.
The brochure starts out by answering what is likely to be the most pressing question for many patients: What exactly is a health savings account? Then, using a question-and-answer format, it addresses the particulars of the accounts including deductibles, eligibility and whether HSAs are good for people with chronic conditions.
When patients have health savings accounts, they -- not their health plans -- choose how to spend their health care dollars. And they also have an incentive to spend those dollars in an effective, cost-conscious manner because the money is truly their own.
"Health Savings Accounts at a Glance," is the perfect way to interest patients in the concept. The guide, which can be downloaded from the AMA Web site, would make a useful addition to the waiting room. Patients could pick it up, read through it and begin contemplating whether an HSA would be right for them.
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