Every month Becker's Hospital Review publishes their list of hospitals that have received credit downgrades. The list can be excruciating to look at because of the mighty repercussions that come from a downgrade. This is especially true if the hospital was about to launch a new construction project or look to expand through acquisition. Even a slight downgrade can deliver a mighty blow to a hospital's ability to obtain and/or service debt.
The particularly excruciating part for those of us on the MyLoans team is we have a product that can directly impact your credit rating. If you're reading this post, you undoubtedly know that MyLoans is a patient account financing platform that costs nothing to the hospital, but you might only have a vague understanding of bond or credit ratings. To keep it simple, a bond rating to a hospital is what a credit score is to an individual. If the bond rating goes up, the hospital can access capital at a lower cost. If the bond rating goes down, the cost of capital goes up. And just like your credit score, your rating can go down if you aren't paying your bills or it looks like you might not be able to pay your bills soon.
Where it gets really interesting for us is the list of "how to improve or maintain a bond rating" reads like a MyLoans brochure. Don't take my word for it; check out the "How to avoid credit downgrades in the future" in this Becker's article. Or "Why Ratings Change" in this article from the AAII. Or this specific article about WellStar in the Georgia Health News. If you've sat through a MyLoans presentation you'll remember that our service checks almost every box. Reduction in bad debt? Patients pay their bills because it fits in their monthly budgets. Streamline operations? Banks service the loans. Improved cash on hand? 100% of patient responsibility paid upfront.
Don't land on a list of credit downgrades. Start giving your patients a better option to pay their bills, and start putting your cash to work providing premium quality care.
About Epic River
Since its inception in 2005, Epic River has been providing financial institutions with software and services for process and revenue improvement. MyLoans, our Patient Lending solution, partners financial institutions and healthcare providers to offer low interest loans to cover patient balances. Practices, surgery centers and hospitals get immediate funding of their patient’s outstanding balances and patients avoid financial harm.
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