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Media Contact: Jennifer Vansant at 858-200-9213 or jvansant@csifinancial.com
CSI Financial Launches New Flexible Patient Financing Program for Southern California Hospital San Diego, California, July 17, 2006 -- CSI Financial Services today announced an agreement with a major hospital in Southern California to provide affordable and flexible financing solutions to its underinsured and uninsured patients. The CSI patient account financing program will help the hospital more accurately identify charity cases, enable them to more effectively collect self-pay receivables and reduce the number of unpaid patient accounts that are referred to collection agencies. The hospital selected CSI Financial because of its extensive experience in underwriting, funding and managing self-pay accounts and for the flexible payment options and high level of customer service that CSI offers the patient community. Critical to the selection was CSIs understanding of the healthcare revenue cycle and the importance of positive patient relations. "We are pleased to be able to provide our new healthcare partner with a more flexible and cost-effective way to reduce outstanding accounts receivables and increase available cash," said Mitch Patridge, Chairman and CEO of CSI. "But our overriding joint goal is to serve the patient. As our partnerships with other hospitals have proven, providing patients with easy-to-manage payment options is critical to enhancing the hospitals relationship with the community that they serve. We have proven that collecting on patient obligations need not compromise patient satisfaction and goodwill." More Patients Are Paying a Larger Percentage of Healthcare Costs Themselves Rising healthcare costs have led to reductions in employer healthcare benefits. In 2003, nearly one in every six people in the United States lacked health insurance. Though the impact of this growing trend varies by facility, self-pay accounts and uncompensated care have universally increased. For example, during 1999 to 2004, uncompensated healthcare rose from $20.7 billion to $26.9 billion. Today receivables from self-paid accounts represent 15 to 20 percent, on average, of a healthcare providers receivables, yet only two to five percent of its net revenue. Traditionally hospitals have either created cumbersome payment plans or sent non- paying patients to collection agencies. Both options are expensive to implement and recent concerns about aggressive and unfair collection practices have prompted most hospitals to consider more community-friendly options. Patridge added: "Finding the right solution to reducing the accounts receivable cycle is challenging but not impossible; as it requires first a good understanding of the hospitals mission and patient demographics, and second, a financing partner with robust and flexible systems. Its important for a hospital to team with an organization that is experienced in managing patient collections in a compassionate way and that can do so cost effectively. CSIs unmatched track record and high level of patient satisfaction speak for themselves." Based in San Diego, California, CSI Financial Services has more than 13 years of experience in providing automated patient financing solutions as well as management of self-pay accounts for more than 100 hospitals throughout the United States. The Companys financing methodologies are unique to the industry and allow healthcare providers to easily provide affordable financing to a diverse and underserved portion of their patient population. To date, CSI Financial Services has provided hospitals with more than $170 million in advance payments for patient accounts and has extended loans to patients in all states. For more information about CSI Financial Services visit www.csifinancial.com. |
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