Helping people manage medical bills, for good.

CEO
Kent Ivanoff
Founded
2010

Problem Tech Solves

Two-thirds of US bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. When the Affordable Care Act forced patients to begin managing their own healthcare, they became responsible for their entire healthcare journey, including the stress-inducing responsibility of managing their medical bills. In the last decade, the amount owed by patients has quadrupled, making hospitals some of their community’s largest lenders—many larger than banks. Though unlike banks, the healthcare industry lacks the expertise that can help patients confidently navigate the billing process. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Enter: VisitPay. Founded by ex-Capital One credit executives, VisitPay’s platform is designed to help patients manage their medical bills with flexibility, compassion, and the confidence to both receive and pay for care. Patients are able to set up payment plans, ask questions, and consolidate their entire family’s finances into one single view. If a family has a baby, for example, they can set up a monthly payment plan to pay back the medical bills associated with all of mom and baby’s appointments in one consolidated bill. They can adjust the payment whenever they need to, and get direct support if they have any questions. The technology works with the patient’s habits and needs, not against them. In the same way buy-now-pay-later revolutionized the way consumers purchase goods, VisitPay’s philosophy of low-interest, personalized payment plans gives the patient control over their bill. The gained confidence not only supports smarter financial choices, but lowers the barrier to care for everyone, regardless of their financial means.

Tech Brief

VisitPay is a medical billing platform that helps patients manage and pay off their obligations on their own terms. It integrates with a health provider’s website, so patients can simply go to their provider’s website, log in, and manage their bills, while the VisitPay platform is running white labeled behind the scenes—ensuring the whole process is seamless, trusted, and personalized. Once they login, patients can set up a payment plan for their medical bills, which they can adjust at any point depending on their individual needs. They can view their medical bills, explanation of benefits, talk to their provider about any questions, and look at other payment resources. VisitPay also offers call center and text-to-pay options for patients that like to pay their bills with their phone. Offering flexible payment options actually help people pay their bills back on time, and with less stress. VisitPay uses AI to analyze consumer payment behavior to determine patients’ ​​propensity to pay their bills and offer customized payment plans. For example, between 2019 and 2021 VisitPay saw a 22% jump in finance plan utilization, indicating that patients desired flexible, manageable payments during the pandemic. VisitPay creates a seamless user experience between EHR patient portals, EHR staff tools and the VisitPay payment platform, giving everyone a single, consolidated interface to manage patient obligations. It promotes transparency among health systems and builds trust between patients and providers.

Tech Differentiators

VisitPay reduces costs for patients by allowing them to break down their medical bills into achievable payment plans with little or no interest, depending on health system policy. While credit card payments often have a 10%+ interest rate, health systems are able to offer personalized and compassionate payment arrangements through VisitPay. When patients are empowered and in control of their bills, they pay off their bills more quickly and ultimately pay less. Prior to founding VisitPay, co-founder and CEO Kent Ivanoff was leading Capital One’s US Credit Card Division. In his last year there, he was focused on leveraging consumer data to help navigate the 2008 recession—and then the Affordable Care Act was proposed. Kent predicted it would revolutionize America’s relationship with healthcare costs so he left to found VisitPay. Having a background in consumer finance (not healthcare) is one of VisitPay’s greatest strengths. Kent saw the healthcare industry and market differently than his peers and was able to recognize that collecting and analyzing consumer data was the secret to breaking in. VisitPay was recognized by KLAS as the standout solution in patient financial experience. VisitPay was created to help people understand their medical bills, not just to pay them off. Because of its emphasis on patient financial literacy, VisitPay ranked above every competitor in the market in customized messaging based on patient behavior, scoring an 8.6/9 points.

Validation

St. Luke’s, like all other health systems, was challenged by an influx of patients responsible for managing higher balances due to the shifting reimbursement landscape. They partnered with VisitPay to manage this increase and give patients clarity in managing their medical expenses. In the past three years, patient satisfaction has shot up from 30% to an overall 90% satisfaction rate. St. Luke’s is seeing a near 27% increase in yields despite the hit hospitals have taken during COVID-19. VisitPay alleviates the anxiety that patients have around medical bills. One patient at Intermountain said of her experience: “I have had two babies in [client] facilities. After my first, I got behind on my bills because there was no way to consolidate them. I was paying over $400 a month and couldn't afford it. It ended up in collections and sadly, that was the biggest blessing because I finally made one manageable payment. I constantly was getting bills in the mail, and it was so confusing. I just had my second baby earlier this year since using [VisitPay]. It has been a night and day difference. Everything is online, easy for me to track. I'm not getting mail every day alerting me to bills I already know about, and I can see what I still owe on everything. It has been amazing to make one monthly payment for all of the expenses I incurred while in the hospital as well as the bills of my child’s.” (Note: Patient testimonial is confidential)

Why Us

20%+ of a hospital’s revenue stems directly from patients. VisitPay keeps patients financially engaged, which leads to patient payment lift of over 50%, meaning patients pay their bills quicker and with less interest. High levels of self-service and automation reduce total cost to collect to as low as 1.5%.

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