Patients who earn less than the federal poverty level are eligible to have their medical debt wiped away.
Trinity Health of New England is partnering with the national non-profit RIP Medical Debt to eliminate $32.76 million of non-Medicare/Medicaid medical debt belonging to 22,300 patients who were previously served by the healthcare provider.
RIP Medical Debt acquires and then erases medical debt belonging to individuals who are under significant financial strain and earning less than the federal poverty level. Starting this week, patients who qualify for this debt relief will be notified by letter in an envelope from RIP Medical Debt. The full roll-out of letters may take a couple of months due to the volume of accounts being processed.
"Our Mission and Core Values call on us to care for the whole person – body, mind, and spirit," Montez Carter, PharmD, FACHE, President and CEO, Trinity Health of New England, said in a release announcing the debt elimination program. "High levels of medical debt challenge our past patients on all three levels. Partnering with RIP Medical Debt allows us to relieve those patients of their medical debt to Trinity Health of New England while recovering a portion of that debt to help us continue providing the care our patients and communities need in a responsible and sustainable manner."
RIP Medical Debt has previously collaborated with other hospitals and healthcare systems, including Ballad Health, Vituity, and Children’s Hospital of Alabama.
"Working directly with providers like Trinity Health of New England is an amazing win-win-win scenario," RIP Medical Debt President and CEO Allison Sesso said in the release. "Our valued hospital partner is compensated for some of the care it provided (without having to sell accounts to a debt collector), patients are relieved of the financial and emotional burden of debt they can’t pay, and communities are uplifted as a result."
Amanda Schiavo is the Finance Editor for HealthLeaders.