Freeport, IL — FHN has partnered with healthcare technology company Breez Health to streamline its financial assistance program for income-eligible patients. With a new, simplified online application process, FHN patients can easily determine if they are eligible for hospital discounts or free care.
“We’re on a mission to make healthcare accessible to those in the FHN communities who can benefit from financial assistance,” explains Mark Gridley, FHN’s president and CEO. “Our streamlined financial assistance program ensures we’re providing access to care that is sustainable, consistent and meets the needs of the rural communities we serve, regardless of their ability to pay.”
Patients can now see if they qualify and apply for financial assistance at FHN by visiting the financial assistance portal.
Patients whose combined income and assets are at or below 300% of the federal poverty guidelines could be eligible for free or discounted care. This means a family of four with an annual income up to $90,000 may qualify. Additionally, FHN offers a universal 20% discount to all uninsured patients, regardless of annual income.
“No patient should ever be forced to delay or avoid healthcare services due to cost,” says Gridley. “At FHN, we’re committed to innovative solutions. Our new financial assistance technology in partnership with Breez is a key to not just improving the patient’s financial experience, but also ensuring accessibility for all. Our user-friendly online tool empowers patients to access the care they need without financial worries.”
Breez Health is a technology and consulting company that simplifies patient-facing and internal financial assistance, or “charity care” processes, empowering hospitals to drive affordability of care to vulnerable members of their communities.
“We’re proud to partner with FHN as they play a powerful role in the health and well-being of the people of northwest Illinois and southern Wisconsin,” notes Breez CEO Nick McLaughlin. “Our ability to streamline their hospital financial assistance program, making it self-serve and available online, enables FHN to ensure critical access to care is not interrupted due to financial constraints.
Breez is part of Goodroot, a community of companies reinventing healthcare one system at a time. Dedicated to increasing access and affordability of care, Breez supports hospitals and health systems across the U.S.
About FHN
FHN, a not-for-profit organization with nearly 1,200 team members, is an award-winning regional healthcare system committed to the health and well-being of the people of northwest Illinois and southern Wisconsin. FHN Memorial Hospital has been recognized as one of the state’s top hospitals for safety by the Leapfrog group and Healthgrades as well as by the world’s largest, completely independent, non-profit product- and service-testing organization. FHN caregivers serve an average of 1,500 people each day across FHN’s 17 locations in 5 counties spanning northwest Illinois. Organized in 1995 as an integrated healthcare delivery system, FHN is comprised of FHN Memorial Hospital, the Leonard C. Ferguson Cancer Center at FHN Memorial Hospital, 11 family healthcare centers offering primary and specialty medical care, hospice, and outpatient mental health services. For more information about FHN, please visit www.fhn.org.
About Breez Health
Breez Health’s mission is to make financial assistance easy and accessible at every nonprofit hospital in America. With deep industry knowledge, Breez acts as a strategic advisor to hospitals, helping them design and implement better financial assistance programs and providing consulting, technology and support services to ensure ongoing success for both patients and hospitals. www.BreezHealth.com
