'Convenient, Quick, Friendly': How Patientco Clears Obstacles In Health Care Finance

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Benzinga will be holding its annual Benzinga Global Fintech Awards, a day of dealmaking, networking, and recognition in the financial technology space, on Nov. 10, 2020.

In recognition of those disruptive innovators creating positive and diverse change within the financial services space, Benzinga sat down with Heather George, Chief Revenue Officer at Patientco.

About Patientco

Founded in 2009, Patientco is a cloud-based platform for financial management in the health care industry.

The firm was founded on the basis of transparency; the firm’s founder, Bird Blitch, after having a child, was severely frustrated with the medical bills he received.

“He observed that there was no way for him to go online and engage with his health care provider,” George said. “He didn’t understand what all the bills were for, why he was receiving them, what they meant, what he owed, and why his insurance didn’t pay.”

In light of the experience, Blitch, who was previously involved in the payments business, co-founded Patientco as a secure payment experience for patients and providers.

“Our platform covers all aspects of digital engagement and engaging patients, helping them understand their medical bills and navigate their financial experience,” George said.

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Overall, the firm’s vertically integrated payments infrastructure removes cost centers and confusion in the health care system.

Recent Developments

“We’ve grown exponentially.”

Patientco’s comprehensive suite targets engagement with features tailored to patient preferences. The firm leverages data scrubbing to improve communication and determine payment incentives.

“Sometimes, patients open and don’t pay,” George said. “Our tools have the ability to, within a handful of days if the patient opens but doesn’t pay, drive the patient in two ways: one, we can send a follow-up that offers them a different payment option -- perhaps a prompt pay discount or a payment plan that they didn’t know was available -- or, we could drop them to paper so that within the first billing cycle, they aren’t getting penalized.

“We open up the network so that patients can pay in a convenient, quick, friendly way.”

Outlook On Innovation

“Patientco is very focused on helping health systems support their patient engagement needs while addressing the underlying cost concerns that face patients every day.”

When patients receive costly, unaffordable bills, Patientco’s proprietary methods recognize the response and offer alternatives that improve the patient-provider relationship.

“From a partnership perspective with our health systems," said George, "it is not uncommon for us to walk into a health system and find 8 to 10 plus vendors that we can replace, streamline and provide a really meaningful ROI back to that health system, because they’ve cut costs, they’ve achieved consolidation of vendors, and they’ve offered patients a more convenient, better way to pay.”

According to George, the payments infrastructure is often overlooked, despite its importance to the patient experience. Having access to a singular, closed-loop infrastructure, helps patients walk away more engaged and satisfied.

In response to growth, George noted: “We’re really seeing a big surge after telehealth was implemented by organizations across the country with COVID-19. We’re seeing an equal surge in organizations looking to partner and solve for contactless payments, digital communications, digital engagement.”

To learn more about Patientco, click here.

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Posted In: FintechHealth CareInterviewGeneralBenzinga Global Fintech AwardsHeather GeorgePatientco
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