It seems the forced moratorium on medical bill litigation that accompanied the coronavirus shut down over the spring has ended. Recently, the number of hospitals and patients suing one another has increased. Sick and injured people shouldn’t have to choose between buying groceries or paying their bills. On the other hand, healthcare providers not compensated for services may be forced into bankruptcy. At last count, 42 hospitals closed or filed for bankruptcy this year, with more expected in the coming months.

Waiting to see what Congress does about PPP loan forgiveness is a risky choice for financial institutions. Large banks and credit unions are already communicating with their borrowers about how to prepare for loan forgiveness and are going to start processing applications in a couple of weeks. Borrowers are getting impatient -- and there will be tax implications for carrying loans into 2021. The SBA is ready, your borrowers are ready, we have a portal to streamline the whole process for you. Let’s get started.

Great job! You’ve helped your members and borrowers access the capital they need to stay solvent through the last several months.

Here is a recording our webinar about how educating your customers can reduce your risks. During this recording, you will learn:

Here is a recording of a discussion between three experts in PPP loan forgiveness. During this recording, you will learn:

Congress reconvenes to discuss the bill introduced early in June that would drastically simplify forgiveness for PPP loans under $150K, by automatically qualifying them for forgiveness. There are three ways this decision could go, make sure your financial institution is ready!

We’re all in this together is the mantra of the COVID-19 era. Cable companies are giving premium channels to quarantined customers, car dealerships are deferring payments for months at a time, and free delivery is standard for many restaurants these days.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, medical debt was throwing the country’s healthcare system into crisis. Now, as challenges with the virus continue, many people are losing their jobs, making it impossible to pay their bills. Add that to a 50-70% drop in patient volume due to coronavirus fears, and 13% of providers worry they’ll be out of business in a month. Struggling to keep the lights on, practitioners are trying a variety of strategies to obtain patient responsibilities – optimizing IT systems, collecting payments at the time of service, using external business offices (EBO) – but it’s not enough. These challenging times require a truly innovative solution.

Your priority as a provider is caring about your patients’ health… and that includes their financial well-being. But what can you prescribe for patients who don’t qualify for your existing financing options? Instead of turning them away or sacrificing 5-20% of your patient’s balance to a medical credit card company, consider a triple dose of success with Epic River’s patient lending solution.

Electronic Medical Record (EMR) integration is a top priority in Epic River’s development plan because it creates a better experience for patients, caregivers, and administrators. These deep integrations allow organizations to pull and push information to and from the EMR, avoiding inefficient duplicate data entry and maintaining data integrity. We now fully integrate with Epic and AthenaHealth, with aggressive plans for more integrations in the future.