CarePayment and Siemens Healthcare form Strategic Alliance for Patient Financing Services

PORTLAND, Ore. (September 16, 2014) – CarePayment, a leading national provider of patient financing, announced today it has formed a strategic alliance with Siemens Healthcare, a leader in providing clinical, information technology and business solutions engineered to help improve patient outcomes while reducing costs.

Under the agreement, Siemens Healthcare’s hospital and physician-practice customers will be able to gain access to CarePayment’s affordable and flexible patient financing programs. CarePayment removes financial obstacles to obtaining necessary care, allowing people to manage their medical expenses over time, and helping providers reduce bad debt and increase cash flow.

“With patients responsible for more of their medical costs, there is a growing affordability gap that is hurting our provider customers and their patients. We are dedicated to delivering solutions for the entire range of patient care, so teaming up with CarePayment, a leader in patient financing, enables us to provide hospitals and medical practices an option for an effective solution to help close this gap,” says Rick Pettine, Sr. Director, Business & Alliance Development, Siemens Healthcare.

Two out of five Americans are struggling to pay medical bills, according to Commonwealth Fund, while a NerdWallet analysis found that medical debt is the leading cause of personal bankruptcy. High-deductible plans are certainly a major driver in rising patient-owed medical bills, but consumers are paying more for all types of health insurance. A typical family of four with an employer-sponsored preferred provider organization (PPO) insurance plan paid an average of $3,470 in out-of-pocket expenses and another $5,114 in payroll deductions for premiums in 2012, according to the Millman Medical Index.

To help patients cope with these financial obligations, Siemens Healthcare customers can choose from a variety of CarePayment healthcare financing programs, all of which include a revolving line of credit with terms up to 72 months at 0.00% APR for the life of the account. CarePayment co-brands the programs with healthcare providers in a patient-friendly approach that encourages participation in the program and increases patient satisfaction and loyalty.

“Siemens is a long-time innovator in helping hospitals and physician groups improve care, patient experience and cost. With our shared focus on promoting provider and patient well-being, CarePayment is delighted to partner with Siemens to further patient financial engagement, which is an important part of the equation for enhancing patient access and outcomes and provider performance,” says Ann Garnier, COO of CarePayment.