CarePayment’s Patient Financial Engagement Solution Propels 2014 Company Growth

PORTLAND, OR (January 28, 2015) –CarePayment®, the leading patient financial engagement company, is growing rapidly as demand for its innovative patient payment programs accelerates. CarePayment more than tripled the number of healthcare facilities offering its patient financing solutions, which feature 0.00% APR for the life of the account and no impact on credit reports, to nearly 500 in 2014 and is poised for continued strong growth in 2015.

Providers are adding patient financial services such as CarePayment as more people, even those with insurance, put off necessary medical care because they can’t afford to pay for it. In a recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey, 1 in 4 privately insured Americans said they could not cover an unexpected major medical expense.  What’s more, 19% of privately insured people surveyed didn’t go to the doctor when they were sick, 17% skipped a recommended test or treatment and 18% didn’t get a physical exam or other preventative care because of costs.

To help close this affordability gap, more providers are teaming up with CarePayment to enable patients to manage their medical expenses over time. Among those who began offering CarePayment in 2014 are:

• Baptist Health Care (Florida)
• Blue Mountain Health System (Pennsylvania)
• Crozer-Keystone Health System (Pennsylvania)
• DeKalb Medical (Georgia)
• Emory Healthcare (Georgia)
• Excela Health (Pennsylvania)
• Longmont United Hospital (Colorado)
• Michiana Hematology Oncology (Indiana)

“DeKalb Medical wants our patients focused on getting well rather than worrying about how to pay for care—or worse, delaying necessary therapy or medications. CarePayment is the perfect solution: Our patients now have a convenient, budget-friendly way to pay for care so they receive the treatment they need when they need it,” says Jeff Korn, Executive Director Revenue Cycle at DeKalb Medical.

CarePayment has been steadily expanding its capabilities and partnerships in response to providers’ growing interest in patient financial engagement, which drives everything from patient satisfaction to revenues. In 2014, CarePayment partnered with Siemens Healthcare and MedAssist, and established a marketing agreement with VHA Inc. to feature its payment programs as a complement to existing services for their provider clients and members. It secured $60 million in financing from Bank of America and built out its management team, including recruiting Craig Hodges as its new CEO. The Aspen Institute also cited CarePayment as a model for solving the unaffordable care problem.

“In this era of consumer-driven, value-based healthcare, patient financial engagement is as important as clinical engagement,” says Hodges.  “Hospitals, physicians and other providers recognize they cannot engage patients in their health if people don’t pursue necessary care in the first place because they can’t afford it. And as people pay a greater share of their medical costs, they are judging providers based on how they handle patient financial matters, starting with the first call to schedule an appointment or ask a price through final bill payment.”