South Carolina Hospital Association Endorses nTelagent's Self-Pay System

Managing the accounts of uninsured and underinsured patients just became a little easier for hospitals and health systems throughout the state of South Carolina. Thanks to a new partnership with Nashville, Tenn.-based nTelagent, Inc., members of the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) now have the tools they need to improve the handling and documentation of self-pay patient financial accounts.

nTelagent’s Self-Pay Management System (SPMS), the healthcare industry’s premier accounts receivable solution, improves upfront and overall cash flow, receivables and profitability for healthcare providers by reducing bad debt and improving the revenue cycle process for self-pay patients. Healthcare facilities are increasingly providing services to self-pay patients, due to the growing number of uninsured/underinsured individuals and the rise in consumer-driven healthcare plans, which shift more financial responsibility to the patient.

“Like most hospitals, our facilities here in South Carolina are facing the challenge of managing self-pay accounts. For many providers, these are unchartered waters, and they simply do not have the technology, or appropriately trained staff, in place to deal with these accounts, which can result in unnecessary bad debt for the hospital,” said Tommy Cockrell, chief operating officer of SCHA. “The Self-Pay Management System is a one-of-a-kind tool that will help both patients and providers in our communities, as we work to ensure hospitals receive appropriate compensation for services so they can continue to provide exceptional community benefits.” A recent report estimates that South Carolina hospitals provided more than $500 million in uncompensated care in fiscal year 2007, a number representing both charity care and bad debt.

“We are excited to partner with the South Carolina Hospital Association and its members, as we work to give them the tools and processes they need to make better decisions concerning self-pay patient accounts,” said Earl T. Winter, chairman and CEO of nTelagent. “By making this aspect of their business easier, providers can focus on delivering top-quality care and offering much-needed community benefits. SPMS will lead to improved patient relations, because everything is handled on the front end, where patients are made aware of their financial responsibilities from the start.”

In addition, SPMS allows for clearer, more consistent administration of charity care policies. Using available demographic information, SPMS automatically identifies truly needy patients, alerts the registrar to discounting and charity care options when applicable, and standardizes policies and procedures in the reporting of charity care numbers. This results in a reduction of bad debt for healthcare providers because charity care is accurately categorized, while ensuring that patients receive the financial assistance for which they are eligible.

Approximately 100 hospitals and health systems are members of SCHA, and all members will have access to the nTelagent Self-Pay Management System. The average implementation period is from four to six weeks, and usage fees are based on the volume of patient registrations. Members are informed of the system through joint marketing efforts of nTelagent and SCHA.

An estimated 700,000 people in South Carolina are uninsured. More than 60% of people without insurance earn incomes below 250% of the Federal Poverty Level.

About the South Carolina Hospital Association
Founded in 1921, the South Carolina Hospital Association is the leadership organization and principal advocate for the state’s hospitals and health care systems. Based in Columbia, SCHA works with its members to improve access, quality and cost-effectiveness of health care for all South Carolinians. The state’s hospitals and health care systems employ more than 70,000 persons statewide. Further information can be found online at www.scha.org.

About nTelagent, Inc.
Nashville-based nTelagent, Inc., a next-generation revenue cycle company, has developed a proprietary technology platform, the Self-Pay Management System (SPMS), that is revolutionizing the accounts receivable processes for hospitals, physician practices and all other healthcare service providers, in both inpatient and outpatient settings. For providers, SPMS improves upfront and overall cash flow, receivables and profitability by reducing bad debt and improving the revenue cycle process for self-pay patients. The company’s turnkey technologies enable providers to consistently move workflow to the front end of the revenue cycle, both pre-service and at the point of service. Using non-credit scoring data, the SPMS provides registrars and financial counselors with interactive scripts that integrate patient demographic information with each provider’s unique business policies and rules. The system also automatically identifies discounting and charity care options when applicable, ensuring that patient financial accounting — for both insured and uninsured patients — is handled appropriately and in a non-discriminatory manner. Visit www.ntelagent.com for more information.