Experian Healthcare launches industry's first automated payment plan solution

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Experian Healthcare, a leading provider of revenue cycle products; consultative services; and data for health systems, hospitals and medical groups, today announced an important addition to its Patient Access suite of products. Payment Plan Advisor^SM is the industry's first automated payment plan solution. Leveraging Experian's extensive data and analytical expertise, Payment Plan Advisor helps healthcare organizations automatically calculate the ideal payment plan for each patient based on his or her unique financial situation and the organization's specific payment plan guidelines.

"Healthcare organizations are relying on payment plans as a way of improving the patient accounts receivable process. Until now, plans were created in a standard generic format, which most likely would end in default because the patient did not meet the outlined payment terms," said Dan Buell, general manager of Experian Healthcare. "We developed Payment Plan Advisor to change that by employing healthcare-specific predictive models to determine the optimal payment plan based on a patient's individual financial needs. This enables the organization to decrease default rates and improve patient satisfaction by developing a plan that works within their budget."

"We are excited to be one of the first adopters of this tool because self-pay negotiations can be challenging for both sides," said Stan Salwei, patient financial services director for Altru Health Systems. "At Altru, we are taking an advocacy approach to try to gain opportunities that are win-win for both the provider and the patient while keeping in mind the long-term implications these conversations have for future trust, credibility and reputation. This technology will provide our staff with the valuable information needed to formulate a payment plan that fits with our approach and hopefully meets the needs of all parties involved."

Payment Plan Advisor also saves healthcare organizations time and money by reducing the hours it takes internal staff members to manually determine the appropriate payment plan amount for a patient. By automating their payment plan determinations, staff members can ensure they recommend a plan that not only fits the patient's needs, but also meets the criteria for the organization's specific policies and guidelines. Additionally, the solution allows users to easily recalculate and adjust payment information in the event of changes in a patient's financial situation, which previously was a time-intensive manual task.

Payment Plan Advisor is part of Experian Healthcare's Patient Access suite of products, which also includes:

• Patient Identity Verification: validates and corrects demographic data during preregistration or check-in, helping to prevent medical fraud, minimize return mail and expedite payment
• Eligibility and Benefits Verification: verifies insurance coverage and plan-specific benefits information in real time, leading to fewer rejections and denials
• Financial Assistance Screening: employs healthcare-specific predictive models to identify patients who meet financial assistance qualifications for Medicaid, charity programs and other government assistance
• Propensity to Pay: develops customized scripts that tailor counseling discussions to the unique financial situation of each patient
• Patient Responsibility Pricer: prepares patients for out-of-pocket costs with a detailed estimate of their financial obligations
• Open Balance Display: consolidates information from every facility within a healthcare network to generate a complete financial snapshot of any patient or guarantor, including current and past open balances
• ePayment: enables more flexible payment options for patients by processing credit and debit card payments and establishing budget-friendly recurring payment plans

For more information on Payment Plan Advisor, the Patient Access product suite, or Experian Healthcare's other leading products and services, visit http://www.experian.com/healthcare.

About Experian Healthcare

Experian Healthcare is the leader in providing revenue cycle management products and consultative services powered by data and analytics to health systems, hospitals, medical groups and specialty organizations, helping them to optimize payment processes, reduce bad debt and make more informed business decisions. With clients at more than 900 healthcare organizations nationwide, Experian Healthcare delivers financial insight that allows healthcare organizations to better understand their financial performance, drive operating margin improvement, mitigate risk and protect revenue streams. Its suite of patient access, claims and contract management, and collections products and consultative services gives healthcare organizations greater visibility into critical revenue cycle management processes and meets the industry's growing need for a single integrated source of financial data and analytics that can adapt to current and future payment models. For more information on Experian Healthcare and its suite of products, visit http://www.experian.com/healthcare.

About Experian

Experian^® is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients around the world. The Group helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2013, was US$4.7 billion. Experian employs approximately 17,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.

Experian and the Experian marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Contact:
Roslyn Whitehurst
Experian Public Relations
1 714 830 5578
[email protected]
Twitter: @RozWhitehurst

SOURCE Experian Healthcare