MedPilot, a Cleveland, Ohio-based startup trying to make it easier for healthcare organizations to connect with patients for billing and financial matters has completed a $1.7 million seed funding round from investors including Hudson River Capital Partners, Valley Growth Ventures, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Techstars.
The company’s founding thesis is based on the fact that the current system through which providers communicate with patients about billing is outdated, slow and still largely paper-based.
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In fact, according to a report from TransUnion Healthcare, 73 percent of provider report that it takes one month or longer to collect from patients.
With patient demands around a better consumer experience and more cost being shifted to patients themselves, the theory goes that digital experience needs to not only fit with how care is delivered, but also how people pay for it.
Essentially the 28-person company’s platform combines data from their customer’s practice management system with its own behavioral targeting models to determine the best method and strategy to contact patients and receive payment for services.
One simple example is an outpatient facility reaching out through automated text messages during the period a patient is most likely to check their phone using the MedPilot platform.
The technology also gives providers the analytics tools necessary to better track and manage patients and their financial commitments, which can reduce the extensive administrative burden and cost associated with patient bill collections.
So far, the company claims it has connected with more than 350,000 patients across 55 provider customers.
Initially started in 2014, MedPilot has taken part in a number of healthcare technology accelerators including most recently the Cedar-Sinai Accelerator, a program launched by the Los Angeles-based provider to cultivate Health IT companies.
The three-month program includes mentorship and support from executives and physicians and $120,000 in seed funding for the startup.
Matt Buder Shapiro, MedPilot’s co-founder and chief marketing officer, said going into 2019, the company is looking to focus on growth and customer acquisition with hopes to double its existing customer base and add health systems to the roster.
“Going into the program we had a strong foundation in place and built a patient financial engagement solution for a good group of small and medium-sized providers,” Shapiro said.
“However, we were eager to figure out the best way to scale, not just from a technology perspective but also by thinking about how it would impact larger customers’ operations. The accelerator gave us incredible access to industry leaders and experts that helped us tailor our solution to be able to power some of the largest providers in the country.”
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