Marshall, Missouri, sits right in central Missouri along I-70 between Columbia and Kansas City. They are a rural community with a population of about 13,000 in their city and 23,000 in their county. Marshall sits about an hour away from any tertiary care facilities, so Fitzgibbon Hospital is the area's sole source of health care for emergencies and cancer treatment.
Now that the Paytient solution has been in Fitzgibbon’s hands for over two years, we checked in with hospital leadership, HR, and staff to hear about their experience. Watch our full interview with their team below, and check out some of the highlights from our discussion.
An open door to affordable care — taking Fitzgibbon out of employee collections
Angy Littrell, President, and CEO
“When we first went with Paytient, when folks had an end encounter here or a medical event here and they were receiving their care here, they did have a patient responsibility. So early on they were able to take care of that. It was set it up on a payment plan that was manageable for them. And it really took us out of the collection business, which was a key feature for us.
You know, it's a lot on a small financial department in a small rural hospital to have to manage that aspect. And so it was really a win win. The employee had an opportunity to take care of a bill and feel good about it and we didn't have to worry about it. And so it was really that win-win.
Now we've changed our benefit structure so that we don't have a patient responsibility if our employee uses our own services. But we all sleep a little better at night knowing if they have to get service elsewhere for services we don't have here, they do have some form of a vehicle by which to meet their responsibilities there, which takes stress off them, which means they're a happier employee.
If your employer is compassionate, understands where you're coming from and is supportive of trying to help you get through life every day to the degree they can, That's a really engaging situation to be in.”
Managing unexpected expenses alongside benefits like HSAs
Richard Deford, PR - Marketing Coordinator & Hospital Chaplain
“We have a great benefits package here at Fitzgibbon Hospital and one of those benefits includes Paytient and our insurance is excellent, especially if we receive care from a Fitzgibbon provider and we have a great health savings account program that we're able to utilize for our deductibles and all of that. I got one of those calls that you never want to hear from your son.
And so he said that we were roughhousing and my other son knocked my front teeth out and I, after I composed myself, started thinking of the ramifications of that. And we had to go to the dentist and he had to get implants. Well, how do you plan for that when you're talking about your deductible and all of that?
And that's not something our health savings account would have covered, primarily because of our other diseases and our other health conditions that we were managing under our health savings account. The only way we were able to get those implants is that we had Paytient access.”
Where membership means affordable care
Angy Littrell, President, and CEO
“When folks face health care situations, you know, you have to take care of them. But certainly you worry about the private burden of your financial responsibility. And so you might hesitate or you go get the health care and certainly you want to pay for it, but you need to pay your electric bill or you need to buy the kids the shoes first.
And so even though you might have, you know, an aspiration to take care of your accountability, sometimes it just falls below in those priorities. Paytient really provided an avenue by which people could meet their obligation in bite sized chunks, you know, a vehicle, a financial vehicle that they could utilize very easily.”
A benefit that’s the icing on the cake
Nikki Littrell, Human Resource Director
“I think Paytient is just like the icing on the cake to our benefit packet. To date with Paytient, we've had over $350,000 in eligible expenses paid through Paytient. So that's really encouraging. And actually I think 85% of our employees that have signed up and utilized Paytient are repeat users. So those that do use it, use it repetitively.”
We live to hear this kind of feedback from members and employer clients. These words tell us our mission is alive and well. Our word to you? Better access to affordable care is possible when you give employees time without interest or fees to meet their out of pocket cost obligations. If this resonates with you, let’s talk!
