Hackensack Meridian Health streamlines patient billing

Part of a patient’s stress when going through a medical issue is dealing with billing. For Hackensack Meridian Health patients, that aspect has been streamlined thanks to a collaboration between TD Bank and Nordis Technologies, which is delivering a fully integrated patient billing and payments system for the health care network.

Hackensack Meridian began using the consolidated system in 2018, moving more and more billing and payments to the new system in phases, a representative for Nordis told NJBIZ. Now, it’s being used for the entire health system.

Since the launch, Hackensack Meridian has converted more than 180,000 payments from paper and manual methods to electronic through self-service online or intelligent voice systems.

Hackensack Meridian had been using Nordis’ Expresso software to develop, customize and deliver 1.8 million patient statements, letters and other financial communications each year. The new system integrates this software with TD Bank’s eBill electronic billing system, allowing the health network — which has 17 hospitals and more than 500 ambulatory care centers, fitness and wellness centers, home health services, rehab centers and nursing centers — to eliminate redundant systems to track a patient’s billing history.

“We believe caring for our patients includes the financial experience, and it is our goal to make receiving and paying bills easier and more personalized,” Anne Goodwill Pritchett, executive vice president of revenue operations for Hackensack Meridian Health, said in a statement.

Goodwill Pritchett added that the new cloud-based system gives Hackensack Meridian “new capabilities and flexibility to cater to each patient’s preferences.”

As part of the new system, patients can:

• Manage their accounts online, including viewing statements
• Sign up for payment plans and set up one-time and recurring payments

Nordis also told NJBIZ the Expresso system has built-in capabilities to allow Hackensack Meridian to add email and texting in the future.

TD Bank is headquartered in Cherry Hill; Nordis Technologies is based in Coral Springs, Fla., with additional operations in Las Vegas.