One of the newest major projects undertaken by Fair Isaac Corporation is a medical version of a credit score. Since medical bills are not repaid with the same regularity as other bills, this new tool is seen as a way to provide greater predictability of repayment to medical service providers.
Affectionately known as MedFICO, this project is currently under development and could be available for commercial sale by the end of 2008.
Although the name of the product has not been released, most industry reporters are referring to this new product as MedFICO. It is exactly that, a type of credit score that only accesses medical accounts.
The project is being developed by Healthcare Analytics, of which Fair Isaac is one of the primary investors. Other investors include various healthcare organizations, including the former employer of the CEO.
Touted Benefits
Healthcare Analytics claims that this new score will not be used to deny medical services such as emergency room visits. Instead, their spokesperson claims that it will aid hospitals with accounts receivable management. Hospitals will quickly be able to determine which outstanding payments are more or less likely to be repaid based on previous client histories.
It has also been proposed that hospitals will be able to more accurately identify charity cases. This could help them write these off as such rather than simply as delinquent accounts.
Consumer Concerns
Some critics question whether low scored patients will be denied medical treatment based on their repayment predictability. Healthcare Analytics has stated that it is illegal to deny emergency room treatment to patients, and that this score will not be used in medical decisions.
Privacy watchdogs are not convinced. They predict that someone with a low score might be denied a hospital stay that would otherwise be granted in some situations. Also, there are additional identity theft and accuracy problems that could develop.
It is unclear whether the FACT Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, or any other relevant legislation would be revised to include regulation of these medical credit scores. Additionally, it is unclear if enough major health care providers will subscribe to this service to bring it mainstream.
Tags: MedFICO, medical credit score