SYRACUSE — Both Bankers Healthcare Group (BHG) and Simple Admit, LLC are interested in the patient-lending market and they’ve recently reached a deal to team up. BHG, a provider of financing for licensed health-care professionals, announced it has acquired a 20 percent stake in Simple Admit, a Baldwinsville–based health-care technology company. The deal closed Aug. […]
SYRACUSE — Both Bankers Healthcare Group (BHG) and Simple Admit, LLC are interested in the patient-lending market and they’ve recently reached a deal to team up.
BHG, a provider of financing for licensed health-care professionals, announced it has acquired a 20 percent stake in Simple Admit, a Baldwinsville–based health-care technology company. The deal closed Aug. 14. BHG didn’t disclose the dollar amount of its investment.
Simple Admit is a provider of automated patient-relationship management technology for surgery centers. The platform offers health-care providers a customized suite of online services from pre-admissions through post-operative care.
The deal combines Simple Admit’s technology with BHG’s lending capabilities in the health-care industry. BHG’s patient-financing program, called BHG Patient Lending, will now be offered through Simple Admit’s platform, Simple Pay, as an additional option for patients to cover out-of-pocket costs. Simple Pay calculates the patient’s expense prior to the date of service and allows for payment collection directly through the platform.
BHG Patient Lending is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bankers Healthcare Group, according to Tyler Crawford, CEO of BHG Patient Lending and chief business-development officer of Bankers Healthcare Group.
“This investment positions both BHG and Simple Admit for continued growth and brings solutions that benefit the health-care industry. We’re excited about partnering with a health-care technology trailblazer like Simple Admit,” Al Crawford, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of BHG, said in a news release.
Company synergies
“We have been looking at patient-financing options for the better part of two years,” says Dan Coholan, co-founder, president, and CEO of Simple Admit. He spoke with CNYBJ on Oct. 1
Coholan has had conversations with BHG throughout that time period. Earlier this year, Coholan and the Crawfords attended the same trade show in Boston and had a chance to discuss progress in the patient-lending area.
“We just started the conversation up then,” says Coholan.
As their discussion continued, it became evident a business partnership might be possible.
“We really felt that there was a ton of synergy with our patient-lending product and with BHG in general and started the conversations around what it might look like to be partner … an equity partner,” says Tyler Crawford, Al’s son, who spoke with CNYBJ on Oct. 2.
People working in the health-care sector these days are talking patient lending, Coholan contends, calling it the “biggest conversation” with high deductibles and co-pays that people have to deal with under today’s health plans.
“[Al Crawford] and I still do a lot of traveling together to national groups, owners of surgery centers and Tyler does too,” says Coholan.
With BHG Patient Lending, all patients can qualify, regardless of credit history, and they can choose payment terms that best fit their budget (up to 60 months) with “no hidden fees,” BHG said. When a patient chooses to use the BHG Patient Lending option, health-care facilities “receive 100 percent funding, reducing procedure abandonment, outstanding accounts receivables.”
“With our patient-lending program, we felt that that was a perfect [fit] … to provide [patients] a nice, affordable way to pay for that out-of-pocket cost,” says Tyler Crawford.
About the firms
Davie, Florida–based Bankers Healthcare Group, maintains its financial headquarters at 201 Solar St. and a national sales office at 115 Solar St. in Syracuse. It also has a research and development office in New York City.
It is partially owned by Nashville, Tennessee–based Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ: PNFP).
Bankers Healthcare Group has 402 employees, including 189 in Syracuse, 183 at its headquarters in Florida, and 30 in New York City, the company tells CNYBJ.
Since 2001, BHG has provided more than $3.5 billion in financing to customers nationwide and worked with more than 110,000 practitioners.
Simple Admit has nearly 60 employees total, with the majority of its workers at its office at 45 Oswego St. in Baldwinsville. The firm has information-technology employees working around the country in places that include Detroit, Michigan; Nashville, Tennessee; and Tampa, Florida
“Our implementation people are spread around,” Coholan notes.