CarePayment Names New CEO

PORTLAND, Ore. (June 17, 2014)—National patient financing firm CarePayment has named Craig S. Hodges as its new CEO, effective July 7, 2014. Hodges succeeds Craig Froude, who will continue to oversee CarePayment in his role as chairman of the board and a managing partner for Aequitas Capital, the alternative investment management firm that founded and owns CarePayment.

“Craig has an impressive track record of strategically growing healthcare companies, along with extensive experience in revenue cycle management, patient communications and the healthcare payment sector,” says Froude. “He is the right leader to take CarePayment to the next level of performance by ensuring we continue to offer best-in-breed products and services for helping both healthcare providers and consumers cope with the steep rise in patient out-of-pocket medical expenses, due in large part to the growth in high-deductible plans.”

Under Froude, the number of hospitals, physician groups and other healthcare providers sponsoring CarePayment’s 0.00% APR payment programs has more than tripled since early 2013. CarePayment has expanded into all 50 states, strengthened its management team and recently secured $100 million in financing, including a $60 million line of credit from Bank of America.

Hodges is joining CarePayment as demand for the company’s affordable financing programs continues to accelerate. Two out of 5 working-age adults, or 75 million people, are carrying medical debt or had problems paying medical bills, up from 58 million in 2005, according to the Commonwealth Fund. Gallup reports that 30% of U.S. adults say they, or a family member, have put off medical treatment in the past year because of the cost.

“The growing affordability gap is threatening to undercut many of the goals of health reform, driving more patients to postpone essential healthcare services and medications and hurting providers’ ability to fulfill their mission of delivering quality care to their communities,” says Hodges. “CarePayment closes the affordability gap by enabling patients to manage their medical expenses over time. Our financing programs mean that patients get the care they need, they improve healthcare provider financial performance and they increase patient satisfaction and loyalty.”

“As a result, I see the opportunity to build CarePayment’s new model of consumer healthcare finance into a critical component of every provider’s revenue cycle management,” Hodges says.

Before becoming CarePayment CEO, Hodges was senior vice president and general manager of patient billing and payment services and for payer payment solutions for Emdeon, a leading provider of revenue and payment cycle management and clinical information exchange solutions. Hodges joined Emdeon in 2007 when it acquired IXT Solutions, a healthcare technology firm providing self-pay revenue tools. Craig was a founder of IXT and served as its president and COO. He also was president and COO of National Business Products, which offered a suite of billing, payment and card-based affinity programs.Hodges holds a bachelor of arts in business administration from Austin Peay State University.