WINSTON-SALEM -- Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center introduces a new program to help patients manage health care costs.
The hospital partnered with Commerce Bank and now offers zero-percent interest loans up to $50,000 to help patients plan and manage their health care costs over an extended period of time.
"One of the things we've seen is that patient financial responsibility is increasing mostly because of high deductible health plans, and that's resulted in is many patients delaying their care,” said Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Chief Financial Officer Chad Eckes.
Terms of the loan repayment depend on the loan amount. For loans of $250 to $5,000, payment may be spread over 24 months. For loans of $5,001 to $15,000, loans may be spread over 60 months. For loans of $15,001 to $50,000, the repayment term is 84 months.
The interest free loan is also available for elective procedures that insurance often does not cover.
“We felt that it wouldn't be fair to be excluding these items and segregating out those patient populations,” Eckes said.
Some elective services including specific bariatric, cosmetic or eye surgeries require patients to pay 50 percent of the total cost up front then using the Commerce Bank loan to pay the remaining 50 percent.
Eckes said this new loan program gives patients an alternative to structure payment plans, which some are unable to pay off. "This alternative allows a solution for those patients that want to pay their bills and just need more time to fulfill that commitment.”
The hospital started to offer the program in the fall. Eckes said Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center already financed more than $1 million in patient loans.