|
|
FRANKLIN, Tenn. and PORTLAND, Ore. –
Aequitas Capital Management, Inc., Portland, Ore., will be extending
its zero-interest, non-discriminatory medical finance card to hospital patients
alongside other administrative and financial services offered by Franklin,
Tenn.-based Passport Health Communications, Inc.
The partnership agreement allows for Aequitas Capital’s
CarePayment® medical finance card
program to be marketed with Passport’s revenue cycle management products and
services. The
CarePayment® program features a
hospital-branded card that is available to any patient owing fees for health
care and is received by the patient as an extension of a hospital’s overall
mission to its community. The program is completely non-discriminatory as cards
are issued without an approval or application process and cardholders incur no
finance charges. Additional hospital charges may be added to the card as long as
the patient is current with minimum monthly payments.
Hospitals can use Passport’s insurance
eligibility data to verify patients’ coverage
and check for
government aid. They may then proceed with
other products and services including, but not limited to, verifying a patient’s
credit report and score, generating a
patient estimate and soliciting payment via
credit card or
cash. The CarePayment® program can
be offered as a payment option pre-service or as part of the hospital’s
collection efforts post-service.
Jeff Drake, Passport chief sales and marketing officer, said the partnership is
indicative of a growing demand from hospitals for retail-oriented patient
payment plans and financing.
“Hospitals are treating more self-pay patients, many of whom cannot afford the
cost of care and contribute to hospitals’ inflating amount of bad debt and
charity care,” said Drake. “Interest-free programs provide a manageable payment
avenue for the patient and allow the hospital to collect for services it might
otherwise write off.”
Aequitas Capital Management Senior Managing Director Steve Wright believes the
patient-friendly aspect of a zero-interest finance card is beneficial to both
patients and hospitals.
“For the growing number of patients who cannot pay within terms using cash,
check or traditional credit cards,
CarePayment® provides another
payment option with extremely generous terms,” he said. “No other industry has a
similar need to offer zero-interest payment plans to such a broad variety of
consumers. We attribute much of our success to a patient-friendly approach, from
initial setup through the monthly invoicing and offering multiple payment
methods.”
Wright added that hospitals need help to compensate for the increase in
uninsured and under-insured patients, declining government reimbursements and
growing deductible requirements for insured patients. A patient-friendly finance
program like
CarePayment® is a viable way for
health care providers to substantially improve patient-pay receivables
performance while simultaneously improving their overall mission to the
community.
Since launching the
Synergy+ partnership program in 2008 Passport
has developed more than a dozen corporate
partnerships. The company plans to continue
expanding the program in 2009 to involve additional companies representing the
full range of revenue cycle management.
About Passport Health Communications, Inc.
Passport Health Communications, Inc. is a health care technology provider
headquartered in Franklin, Tenn. Passport’s products and services are used by
more than 5,300 hospitals, physician practices and other health care providers
in all 50 states. The company delivers a range of administrative, clinical and
financial tools via real-time, batch and integrated technology to improve the
efficiency and accuracy of the revenue cycle process. For more information,
visit
www.passporthealth.com.
About Aequitas Capital Management, Inc.
Aequitas Capital is a value-oriented alternative investment manager
headquartered near Portland, Oregon. The firm offers a variety of private
equity, mezzanine and secured debt investment strategies, focusing on middle
market companies, as well as the health care and renewable energy sectors.
Aequitas Capital also provides financial advisory services , including mergers
and acquisitions, commercial finance solutions, restructuring, recapitalization
and fund placement. For more information, visit
www.aequitascapital.com or
www.carepayment.com.
|
