financial assistance
made easy
Our platform simplifies the financial assistance application process, empowering hospitals to drive growth and deliver patient satisfaction.
The Issues
Sobering Statistics
From cumbersome applications to inefficient processes and high costs, both patients and hospitals deserve better solutions when it comes to the administration of financial assistance.
$140B
Americans owed $140B of medical debt in 2020#1 Cause
Medical debt is the #1 leading cause of bankruptcy (even when over 75% had some type of insurance)60%
Medical debt challenges affect 60% of Americans35,000+
Lawsuits and other court actions taken against patients$72M
Sought from patients from lawsuits and other court judgements64%
Percent of patients who say they have avoided or delayed medical care out of fear of the costOur Role
Elevating Patient Experience
- Promote health equity and positive health outcomes
- Reduce the financial burden of care on low-income communities
- Avoid creating bad debt and resorting to collections
Protecting Tax-Exempt Status
- Lead the industry in Charity Care as a percentage of Net Patient Revenue
- Avoid compliance issues and risk of shutdown
- Support your not-for-profit mission
Uncovering Revenue Opportunities
- Increase and Accelerate Federal Uncompensated Care (UCC) Reimbursement
- Reduce administrative costs and burden
Solution
Our Online Financial Assistance Platform is an easy-to-install application designed to meet the specific needs of non-profit hospitals and includes:
- Eligibility checker that allows patients to quickly and anonymously check if they qualify for assistance
- Simplified online applications for efficiency, accuracy, and enhanced patient satisfaction
- Application processing support services to ensure the success of your financial assistance program
About Breez
Our Expertise
Our team is dedicated to creating financial assistance programs that address the needs of patients and hospitals. We are driven by our deep industry expertise and mission to help people afford the medical care they deserve.Who We Serve
We partner with non-profit hospitals to design financial assistance solutions that save time, money, and provide critical access to information and assistance for patients.What Our Clients Are Saying
“Serving our community has always been our number one priority. Which is why we knew it was imperative that we do everything we could to make our financial assistance program as easy as possible to access and navigate for our patients. Partnering with Breez Health, we have implemented a financial assistance system that not only works for us, but helps our patients understand charity care available to them. We are incredibly proud of how easy we’ve made it for patients to utilize and are excited to see how this partnership will help our communities receive the care they need at a cost they can afford.”
Jay JacobsSenior Revenue Cycle Manager
“Partnering with Breez Health has significantly improved how we connect our patients to our financial assistance program at Black River Memorial Hospital. Ensuring affordable access to care for our patients is a major priority at our organization, so we wanted to make it as easy as possible for our eligible patients to access and navigate our financial assistance program. Our customized Online Financial Assistance Platform plays a major role in those efforts, and I would be happy to recommend Breez to other hospitals looking to do the same.”
Gina LaFaungeRevenue Cycle Director Insights
Upcoming Webinar: Reducing the Stigma Around Hospital Charity Care
Join us for 5 Tips to Improve the Patient Financial Experience WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, FROM 12:00-12:45 P.M. (ET) 100 million Americans struggle with medical debt. Incurring a financial hardship—on top of a critical illness—hinders recovery. While financial assistance and charity programs exist at nonprofit hospitals, they are often underutilized. Patients often feel embarrassed or concerned …Read More
The Top 5 Reasons Hospital Bills Have Soared—And How Nonprofits Can Lower Them
As the cost of healthcare in the U.S. continues to rise, so do inequities in accessibility, disparities in health outcomes, and the severity of our country’s medical debt crisis. Hospital bills often force patients to make the difficult choice between treatment or financial hardship. Nonprofit hospitals—that genuinely care for the wellness of their community members—have …Read More
Continuous Medicaid Coverage Ending—Hospitals and Patients Need to Prepare Now
In December, Congress passed legislation to begin decoupling Medicaid coverage protections under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) from the Public Health Emergency (PHE). These protections have required Medicaid to extend certain flexibilities—such as continuous health insurance coverage—in exchange for enhanced federal funding. While the PHE remains in effect, Medicaid continuous coverage has been …Read More
Webinar on Demand: How Rural Hospitals can Leverage Financial Assistance Programs for Financial Stability
A new report from the AHA revealed that more than 130 rural hospitals have closed over the past decade—with 19 closures in 2020. Why? It’s become unaffordable to keep doors open. The majority of patients within rural America are insured through Medicare and Medicaid, which reimburse less than half the cost of providing services. That, …Read More
5 Ways to Reduce the Stigma Around Hospital Charity Care
According to a 2022 study from Kaiser Family Foundation, 100 million people in America are saddled with medical debt. Financial challenges, stemming from an inability to pay for critical healthcare services, add additional hardships on those trying to heal from illness. Financial assistance and charity programs exist at nonprofit hospitals but are frequently underutilized. Why? …Read More
Raising America’s Healthcare Grade—and the Affordability and Accessibility of Care
We received America’s Report Card on the U.S. healthcare system and it’s not good. Consumers are not impressed. When it comes to healthcare in America—high marks are in short supply. The 2022 West Health-Gallup Report revealed that 44% of Americans give the U.S. healthcare system a poor or failing grade. The top two reasons? Affordability …Read More
Webinar on Demand: Laws that Govern Financial Assistance in Healthcare—Stay Up to Date
Join us for a deep dive into the federal laws that govern financial assistance programs and charity care across the U.S. and learn about emerging technology and new approaches that can help you run more efficient patient-centered financial assistance programs. We’ll cover: The Affordable Care Act’s 501(r) CMS Medicare Bad Debt reimbursement rules National Health Service Corps charity care requirements How state governments …Read More
How to Enact Effective Medical Debt Legislation
See this article by Breez CEO Nick McLaughlin and Goodroot CEO Mike Waterbury as it appeared on Inside Sources, Smerconish and the Rapid City Journal. With rising inflation and a looming recession, the medical debt crisis in the U.S. is about to get worse. Americans currently owe over $140 billion on past-due medical bills, which is the No. 1 cause of bankruptcy in the country.Read More
Nick McLaughlin Discusses Medical Debt on Ask a Doctor Podcast
Breez CEO Nick McLaughlin was a guest on the “Ask a Doctor” podcast with Virgie Bright Ellington, MD. Medical debt is the No. 1 cause of bankruptcy in America. That fact is clearly not lost on Dr. Virgie, whose recent book is entitled “Crush Medical Debt.”Read More
Financial Assistance Programs Help Hospitals Find Hidden Revenue in Bad Debt
In the aftermath of the pandemic, every nonprofit hospital in the United States is burdened with increasing amounts of bad debt. But many of those hospitals are underutilizing one of the best tools for fixing this problem — an already-established financial assistance program. Read More
Breez Health Partners with NRHA to Streamline Financial Assistance at Rural Hospitals
Healthcare technology company Breez Health is now an official partner of National Rural Health Association (NRHA). Breez simplifies patient-facing and internal financial assistance/charity care processes, empowering hospitals to drive organizational growth, and affordability of care to vulnerable members of their communities. Read More
Webinar on Demand: Ohio HCAP, Charity Care, and Financial Assistance
Access the recording of the Ohio HCAP, Charity Care, and Financial Assistance webinar presented by Breez CEO Nick McLaughlin on August 31, 2022.Read More
The Top 3 Reasons Why Streamlined Financial Assistance Should be the Next Big Initiative for Nonprofit Hospitals
Over the past ten years, we’ve seen unimaginable developments in cancer treatment, robotics, cardiology—and the list goes on. But there’s still an area that nonprofit hospitals haven’t yet perfected—financial assistance programs. Streamlined financial assistance programs should be the next big initiative for nonprofit hospitals in the U.S. Read More
New APS Vendor Offers Online Financial Aid Application Solution
APS hospitals can now strengthen their financial assistance programs by accessing an online platform that allows patients to quickly and accurately determine eligibility and complete a financial aid application themselves. Read More
Inspired by a Mission-first Model: Patrick Whisennand
As the newest member of the growing Breez Health team, we sat down with Patrick Whisennand, Senior Account Executive to ask him, “Why Did You Join Breez?”Read More
Connecticut Post Interviews Nick McLaughlin for Report on Hospital Financial Assistance
Nick McLaughlin, CEO of Breez Health, was interviewed as an expert source on why hospitals benefit when patients use their financial assistance programs.Read More
Breez CEO Nick McLaughlin Part of Hospital Pricing Panel on WNPR
Nick McLaughlin, the founder and CEO of Breez Health, wrote this article for MedCity News following the announcement that the White House was launching a medical debt initiative and the three major credit bureaus planned to remove 70% of medical debt from consumers’ credit reports. Read More
Nick McLaughlin Talks Hospital Financial Assistance Policies on the Late Night Health Radio Podcast
Breez Health founder and CEO Nick McLaughlin was a guest on the Late Night Health Radio podcast with host Mark Alyn. Nick talked about how having insurance isn’t enough to keep patients out of medical debt, on who qualifies for hospital financial assistance, and how it’s mutually beneficial for both patients and hospitals to take advantage of financial assistance policies. Below are some of the highlights of what Nick had to say. Read More
Medcity News: Credit Bureaus Are Removing Medical Debt, but Hospitals Can Prevent It
Nick McLaughlin, the founder and CEO of Breez Health, wrote this article for MedCity News following the announcement that the White House was launching a medical debt initiative and the three major credit bureaus planned to remove 70% of medical debt from consumers’ credit reports. Read More
You Ask, We Answer: How Much Information Is Enough for Financial Assistance Approval?
By Nick McLaughlin Question: What are your best practices or procedures for patient cooperation to obtain the documents to qualify them for your Financial/Charity program? Many times, a patient is denied not because they don’t qualify, but because they did not provide all the information we require with our application form. Also, what is the …Read More