High costs have become emblematic of the American healthcare system. From compensating surgeons for long, complex procedures to fees for tests and administrative processes to the cost of simply staying overnight in a hospital, it’s not hard to rack up a heart-stopping bill, especially if a patient requires intensive medical care. As a healthcare provider, you may have seen for yourself how many people will delay or refuse care because of the expense. A fair, reliable health credit service like the Epic River Patient Lending program can give you the opportunity to help your patients stay healthy, both physically and financially.
If you are associated with a large healthcare center or hospital, then you have probably already considered patient financial services. Many medical procedures are costly – particularly the high-risk operations needed by seriously or chronically ill patients – and providing an in-house medical bill assistance service can make billing easier and care more accessible for patients. Epic River Patient Lending makes it even easier by providing a user-friendly, web-based platform and partnering hospitals with local banks to offer patients fair, low-interest loans.
Is Patient Lending the best option for you? If you offer medical procedures and operations that are a challenge for many of your patients to afford, then the answer is yes. To help you make that determination, we have collected and described some of the most expensive medical procedures available to patients. Review part one of this series for the first four items on the list, and continue reading for more reasons to consider the importance of health credit services. If you’re ready for a solution that benefits providers and patients alike, contact Epic River today.
Liver Transplant
Some of the operations we listed in part one of this series can cost over a million dollars. The contents of today’s list aren’t quite as costly, but they aren’t far behind. A liver transplant alone can cost more than half a million dollars. The criteria to qualify for a liver transplant are purposefully restrictive, but if a patient is fortunate enough to qualify and be matched with a donor, then we believe that cost shouldn’t hold them back from a greatly increased quality of life. Unfortunately, liver transplants are costly. It’s a high-risk surgery with extensive administrative and record-keeping costs, and the procedure often dictates an extended hospital stay for specialized aftercare.
Open Heart Surgery
As we mentioned above, heart disease is a deadly force in the U.S. If issues are caught in the earlier stages, then open heart surgery may be a less expensive, lower risk way to address problems and stave off the need for a transplant. Because heart disease is so common, open heart surgery is more common than one might hope, and is often fraught with complications that only add to the patient’s bill. While the procedure doesn’t include the expenses of a transplant, it is still a relatively high-risk operation, and a portion of the high cost is often used to cover the liability insurance your doctors need to pay to protect themselves in case of a lawsuit.
Pancreas Transplant
A pancreas transplant is a very long procedure with a long period of aftercare. The average period for post-surgery hospital stays is around 21 days, which can be difficult even for patients with health insurance to afford. There are many cases where it is also combined with a kidney transplant, which can make the cost even more prohibitive for patients.
Tracheotomy
In comparison to the plethora of organ transplants on this list, a tracheotomy is not as costly, but it still costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and may be unavoidable for some patients. It is often performed as an emergency room procedure to help patients breathe, and can require extended time in an intensive care unit after the operation. The right patient lending solution can give them a better way to handle that expense.
If you are a healthcare provider that works with these procedures, or those that we listed in part one of this series, then providing your patients with health credit services can be essential to bridging the gap between necessary medical care and patients with budget concerns. For those without health insurance, or those who can’t afford the thousands of dollars it takes to reach their out-of-pocket maximum, they may be forced to refuse treatment or take on medical debt they simply can’t pay back. Epic River Patient Lending offers a solution.
With our Patient Lending program, your hospital will be paired with a local financial institution to offer patients competitive low-interest medical loans. Patients qualify no matter their credit score, and they can negotiate with the bank to find a payment plan that works for them. The bank will then pay the patient’s bill up front and in full, so your hospital doesn’t have to worry about unpaid services or revenue lost to the time it takes to elicit repayment. Epic River Patient Lending is a solution for everyone. Contact a member of our team today to learn more!
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