In a step towards enhancing the patient experience while simultaneously improving collection rates, Midland Memorial Hospital in Midland, Texas, recently began offering CarePayment, an innovative patient loyalty and payment program based out of San Francisco, to help its patients cover out-of-pocket medical expenses by letting them pay back bills over a period of time.
By offering CarePayment, which first came out in 2004, the non-profit hospital serving Midland County's 140,000 residents will provide its patients more flexibility in covering medical expenses through a hospital-branded relationship card that makes it easy for patients to pay unexpected out-of-pocket expenses such as co-pays and deductibles over time.
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According to Joe Siedel, senior vice president of operations for CarePayment, the CarePayment loyalty and payment card is available to anyone receiving care at Midland Memorial Hospital. Patients can make low minimum monthly payments over 25 months with zero percent APR through accounts that are issued by WebBank of Salt Lake City, Utah. Those who are current on their payments can re-use the card for future medical expenses. Patients can also consolidate multiple medical bills into one payment each month.
"Hospitals are looking for affordable ways for patients to be able to pay their bills. It's becoming harder and harder for many Americans to pay back their medical bills in one lump sum," said Siedel. "There's a large group of people that want to pay off their debt but can't afford to right off. However, they can afford it over a period of time. This is a great way to begin driving down debt at hospitals."
Sidel said CarePayment doesn't turn down patients for credit reasons, income or lack of insurance. "All patients using the program just have to pay off 4 percent of their balance each month even if a patient continually adds to the bill," he said.
CarePayment has been increasing its presence across the country over the last few years and has managed 750,000 patient accounts since 2004.
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"This program is a powerful way to drive revenue in the door. Patients are starting to find hospitals like Midland that offer this – it attracts new patients," Siedel said. "One thing we've realized about CarePayment is that it increases a patient's satisfaction with their hospital experience. In a study, over 93 percent of patients with access to the program had an improved or maintained hospital experience."
To learn more about CarePayment, visit www.carepayment.com.
Follow HFN Associate Editor Kelsey Brimmer on Twitter @kbrimmerhfn.