NAPA Anesthesia Improves Patient Payment Satisfaction and Online Bill Pay Experience, Along with a Payment Lift

With Cedar Pay, NAPA has streamlined the payment process and increased payments from patients with balances after insurance by 71%

NEW YORK, Dec. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- North American Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA), the leading single-specialty anesthesia company in the U.S., has enhanced its billing process through a partnership with Cedar, the leading financial experience platform. In the first year of working with Cedar, NAPA saw a 71% increase in payments from patients with a balance after insurance.

The challenges related to anesthesia billing create a unique burden for both patients and clinicians. Complex and unexpected bills can deter or delay patients from paying; this leads to financial strain for clinicians. Recognizing the need for a more transparent approach, NAPA partnered with Cedar, implementing Cedar Pay to reduce confusion around anesthesia billing and make the revenue cycle process more patient-friendly.

"We recognize that patients are often surprised when they receive a separate anesthesia bill after their procedure," said Lynn Van Houten, Vice President of Revenue Cycle Services at NAPA. "Cedar has enabled us to transform our billing into a seamless, transparent process that builds trust with patients. This approach reinforces our commitment to our hospital and surgery center partners, as well as our NAPA Managed Services clients, to deliver high-quality anesthesia services through every interaction, including the financial experience."

With Cedar Pay, a leading patient financial engagement and payment platform, NAPA replaced traditional dunning approaches with a patient-centric engagement strategy, utilizing:

• Personalized messages delivered via text, email, and paper bills
• Expanded payment options, such as Apple Pay and card-on-file
• Smart, timely discounts to support true self-pay patients

"Many of the challenges associated with healthcare billing are not new, such as navigating various siloed interactions with multiple stakeholders beyond the provider. When we surveyed patients, we found that 40% won't pay their bill if they cannot understand the administrative experience," said Florian Otto, CEO and Co-founder of Cedar. "Through our partnership with NAPA, we've been able to use a personalized, omnichannel approach to build confidence and trust in every patient payment."

With Cedar Pay, an impressive 85% of payments are now made using online and automated phone tools, with over half of engaged patients completing payments and 89% patient satisfaction with the billing process.

"Our teams are always striving to innovate and elevate our billing process by embracing new tools and fresh approaches," said Michele Tassone, Senior Director of Revenue Cycle Services at NAPA. "Cedar's commitment to innovation makes them an invaluable partner, and we're excited to continue our work with them."

To learn more about NAPA's successful partnership with Cedar, read the full case study here.

About Cedar
Cedar is the leading financial experience platform for healthcare providers who prioritize patients. Cedar delivers healthcare's top patient financial experience platform for modern revenue cycle teams. Starting with consumer-grade technology, we offer the only platform that integrates a patient's billing and benefits information in one simple payment experience. Our platform is a must-have for finance leaders to increase patient payments while boosting patient loyalty. To learn more, visit www.cedar.com and join us on LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.

About North American Partners in Anesthesia
As a clinician-led organization, North American Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA) is redefining healthcare, delivering unsurpassed excellence to its partners and patients every day. NAPA has grown to become the nation's leading single-specialty anesthesia company. Our nearly 5,000 clinicians serve more than 2 million patients annually at nearly 400 healthcare facilities in 23 states. For more information, please visit NAPAanesthesia.com.

Contact

For Cedar
Jenny Fiegoli
[email protected] 

For North American Partners in Anesthesia
Nayeem Sayed
(262) 408-1559
[email protected]

SOURCE Cedar