Private healthcare providers sent a record 10.2 million invoices to insurers through Healthcode’s online clearing service in 2023.
Earlier this month, Fiona Booth, the company’s head of external affairs and stakeholder engagement, (pictured) who was speaking on the first morning of Health & Protection‘s second annual Health Summit at Tylney Hall in Hampshire, revealed insured claims volumes handled by the service broke through the 10 million barrier in 2023 which was 20% higher than 2022, while unique patient numbers are still increasing.
Providing further detail on the numbers this morning, the company revealed the figure sent by insurers through the service over last year was 10.2 million – marking the first time more than 10 million invoices have been submitted annually.
According to Healthcode’s latest analysis, the increase in volumes was driven by higher insured activity levels across the sector – especially for non-hospital treatments and specialties such as physiotherapy where overall invoice volumes increased by 27%.
In particular the data showed an increase in the number of unique insured patients receiving treatment, rather than multiple invoices relating to the same patients.
Treatment setting
Over 2023, 3.8m invoices were submitted by hospitals and 6.4 million by non-hospitals – indicating year-on-year growth of 24% for non-hospitals and 12% for hospitals.
For hospitals, the vast majority of invoices related to outpatient treatments (more than 3.1 million). The number of invoices for outpatient and admitted treatments rose 11% and 12% respectively year-on-year.
Specialty
Orthopaedics and trauma remained the biggest hospital specialty in 2023 with an insured invoice volume of more than 657,000, up 13% on 2022.
Radiology came second with 459,000 (up 7%) and physiotherapy third with 317,000 (up 15%).
Though gynaecology was the sixth largest hospital specialty in terms of invoice volumes (223,000), it also saw the largest year-on-year growth (22%).
Cardiology was 10th largest hospital speciality by volume (141,000) but posted growth of 20%.
For non-hospital care, the biggest specialty was physiotherapy with more than one million invoices, more than 30% higher than 2022. Orthopaedics came second with 828,000 invoices (up 12%).
Physiotherapy had the largest volume of invoices in 2023 across hospital and non-hospital settings, indicating year-on-year growth of 27%.
Countries and regions
Hospital invoice volumes were up across all countries in the UK with year-on-year growth of 11% in England, 38% in Northern Ireland, 13% in Scotland and 20% in Wales.
All English regions saw year-on-year growth of more than 10% in 2023 with the North East coming top with 18% and London achieving year-on-year growth of 11%.
Peter Connor, managing director at Healthcode, said: “The growth in invoice volumes to insurers is a healthy sign as it shows that more insured patients received the investigations, treatment and rehabilitation they needed to get their lives back on track.
“The increase in physiotherapy activity, for example, reflects the prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions in the population and also the important role of physiotherapists in preparing patients for procedures and supporting them as they recover.
“From a Healthcode perspective, I’m delighted that our clearing service has become a trusted and indispensable part of the invoicing process.
“It’s testament to the power of our online technology to streamline time-consuming manual processes and give private health businesses back that precious time to focus on delivering high quality safe and timely care.
“Whether it’s through our interoperable technology, our business intelligence or initiatives like our user groups, our motivation has always been to bring all the players in the industry together to facilitate collaboration and better ways of working.
“That continues to inspire innovations like The PPR (The Private Practice Register) which has now passed the milestone of 40,500 registered practitioners and ICE, our new real-time appointment booking platform for the sector.”