Much has been written about changes underway in the pay over time market, from consolidation taking root to the possibility that it is losing its luster.
These perspectives fail to recognize that we are still in the early innings of buy now, pay later (BNPL)—and that its most transformative impact is largely still to come.
Indeed, allowing people to pay over time in a way that works for their budget is more critical than ever, especially in healthcare. It’s not a “nice to have;” it’s a must-have if we want to help more Americans access the healthcare they need.
Unfortunately, according to our surveys and my experience as an operator of a DSO in Southern California, more than 50% of patients who apply for credit to finance their healthcare expenses are denied.
How long should we continue to deny healthcare to the 160 million Americans with lower credit scores who can’t immediately finance their growing out-of-pocket healthcare expenses? Or the 25% of U.S. households that are uninsured or under-banked?
Additionally, the problem becomes more complex as the financial burden shifts to consumers as employers can no longer afford to pay. Individuals who get health insurance through their employers are now paying nearly 30% of the premium costs.
What does this mean for patients? Patients are becoming the new payer. This shift is hurting patients, causing them to avoid care or not be able to make payments, which also puts major pressure on providers who are seeing unprecedented levels of uncompensated healthcare.
These problems are precisely why I started PrimaHealth Credit. I wanted to build a better patient finance company that approves most people with monthly payment options that patients can acutally afford. Because I believe that providers can profitably and fairly serve most patients that walk through their door. The industry just needed a more sophisticated credit analytics tool to reach beyond FICO scores to approve patients. So that’s what we built at PrimaHealth Credit.
Specifically, our credit analytics engine helps us accurately analyze a patient’s ability to pay by evaluating over 200 attributes that are designed to optimize approvals and reduce risk in each healthcare segment we serve. This allows our providers to approve up to 89% of applicants through an effective pay over time program that accurately matches patients to payments that work with their budget.
Now consumers can responsibly finance needed procedures and prevent unnecessary and more expensive medical visits down the road. Moreover, these programs help people build credit histories.
The patient finance industry was long overdue for a better solution that actually takes care of most Americans. I’m proud to say we’ve built a people-first tech platform that helps providers take care of all the needs in the office.
PrimaHealth Credit was built from an operators view, and we are focused on helping to improve the patient experience and helping providers treat more patients. To accomplish this, our easy-to-use platform delivers a single credit application that can serve people across the income and credit spectrum and allows providers to offer financing for all their procedures up to $70,000 and 108 months. Our platform offers instant decisions with no hard credit check, real-time reporting, and a fully customizable solution based on business needs. We also offer a self-guided quick start training series that has employees up and running on the platform in under 15 mins.
We are on a mission to democratize access to healthcare. We are committed to building the future of patient finance where providers and patients know they can count on us. And we’re just getting started.
