Commerce Bank’s Patient Financing Solution Experiences Momentous Growth.
St. Louis, MO – September 25, 2017 – Commerce Bank, a regional bank with $25.1 billion in assets1, announced it has reached $500 million in committed credit lines for its patient financing solution in three years. Called Health Services Financing (HSF®), the program provides patients with a 0% or low-interest line of credit for paying for healthcare. Over 200 hospitals have signed on to make HSF® available to their patients.
HSF® allows patients to make monthly payments over time. This helps ease the burden of rising deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, as well as the financial strain on health systems. “Healthcare providers are realizing they need a strong, reputable financial partner that understands their challenges. Patient satisfaction is paramount, but so is the provider’s staff and workflow,” said Mark Huebner, director of HSF® at Commerce Bank. “HSF® is designed with those challenges in mind, and is backed by a 150-year-old financial institution.”
The HSF® credit line is directly administered by Commerce Bank. It is fast and easy for healthcare providers to enroll patients and requires no paperwork, credit check, manual cash posting or other qualifying steps. The fully automated solution can integrate with billing systems, such as EPIC, McKesson, Cerner and others. Commerce provides customer service and several methods of repayment through a credit line dedicated to HSF® customers.
“We strategically invested significant time and resources designing our program to be unique within the industry, with input from several large health systems,” said Huebner. “We’re thrilled to see HSF® not only adding value, but also giving health service providers a competitive advantage.”
Valley Health System is one of the providers using Commerce Bank’s HSF® program. The six-hospital health system located in Virginia and West Virginia wanted to increase access and affordability for its patients. “Out-of-pocket patient responsibility is growing, and we needed a financial partner that could deliver a patient-friendly solution that is easy to use for both the patient and our staff,” said Matthew Toomey, Vice President of Patient Financial Services. “Commerce delivered quickly, and we are now enrolling several hundred patients each month with ease for both the patient and our staff due to the automation.”
Similarly, Hospital Sisters Health System was looking for a solution that would fit their brand and organization while enhancing patient satisfaction. “We needed a banking partner we could trust who understands the culture of our faith-based health system.” said Monica Malin, Treasury Manager for Hospital Sisters Health System. The 15-hospital health system located in Illinois and Wisconsin challenged Commerce to design a program that would work for multiple locations and billing systems as well as internal workflows and patients. “Commerce’s HSF® program provided the flexibility we needed. We are receiving amazing feedback from patients.”
About Commerce Bank
Commerce Bank, is a subsidiary of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBSH), a $25.1 billion regional bank holding company, as of June 30, 2017. For more than 150 years, Commerce has been meeting the financial services needs of individuals and businesses. Commerce provides a full range of financial products to consumer and commercial customers, including personal banking, lending, mortgage banking, wealth management, brokerage and capital markets services. Commerce operates in more than 330 locations in the central United States and has a nationwide presence in the commercial payments industry.
For additional information, please visit www.commercehealthcare.com
1. As of 6/30/17
A zero-interest rate patient loan is one of many solutions Commerce has developed to support Mercy’s non-profit Catholic mission.
The last thing a patient needs after a hospital stay is the stress of medical bills piling up.
Patients at any of the 32 hospitals in Mercy’s health system now have a more compassionate alternative. With a special zero percent interest rate loan from Commerce, they can consolidate their healthcare bills from Mercy into one lump sum that they repay over time.
“A zero-interest loan is not a product you find many places,” says Bruce Fernandez, Mercy’s director of treasury services. “But Commerce understood patient needs and developed a truly humanitarian solution that helps ease their minds and support their recovery.”
The Health Services Financing (HSF®) program {link to patient loan landing page} is one of many solutions Commerce has developed over the years to support Mercy’s nonprofit Catholic mission, according to Steve Walden, Mercy’s manager of treasury operations.
“Many banking services are commodities,” says Steve. “When we want to do something different, we’ve found that larger banks can’t respond as quickly or nimbly as Commerce. That’s where we go when we want to look outside the box.”