RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that purchases and forgives medical debt, and TransUnion Healthcare, the credit reporting agency's subsidiary for healthcare revenue cycle management, have jointly relieved more than $5 billion in medical debt, the organizations said Sept. 16.
After reaching this milestone, the organizations are strengthening their partnership by making it easier for healthcare providers to integrate RIP Medical Debt’s model into their revenue cycle process.
Below are the four steps the organizations laid out for healthcare providers to follow:
- After exhausting their insurance discovery search, providers can assess patients’ ability to pay and qualify them for charity care while segmenting those patients for follow-up.
- Providers can send their dormant self-pay accounts to RIP Medical Debt after collections efforts have ended.
- RIP Medical Debt will use TransUnion Healthcare’s financial assistance analytics to flag accounts for patients experiencing financial hardship and buy their accounts at fair market value.
- After forgiving the debt, RIP Medical Debt will send notices to the patients to help them repair their credit reports, renew access to resources and remove barriers to seeking healthcare.