April 3, 2008 (Nashville, Tenn.) ---Today nTelagent, Inc. announced that its proprietary front-end business solution, the Self-Pay Management System (SPMS), helps to protect patients from the growing threat of identity theft because the system does not use or store sensitive information such as credit scores, credit data or Social Security numbers. Instead, SPMS uses publicly available demographic information to determine a patient’s ability to pay, resulting in less risk of privacy violations and identity theft.

With more and more patients entering healthcare facilities and emergency rooms as self-pay patients, healthcare providers are facing the increasing challenge of collecting payments directly from the individual patients, instead of private insurance companies and programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. In order to address this shift in collections structure, many healthcare facilities are concentrating on frontend collections to ensure timely and accurate payment from self-pay patients. Patient privacy and data security is paramount in this environment, as more demographic and financial information from patients is required upfront to establish financial responsibility, patient ability to pay, discounting, payment plans, charity care, assistance program eligibility and other assessments.

“As collections move from the back end to the front end, patient and credit privacy concerns are at the forefront,” says Earl T. Winter, Chairman and CEO of nTelagent. “To address these very real concerns in the age of Internet hackers and inside jobs, many providers are opting to use available market and demographic data to determine patients’ capacity to pay, instead of keeping credit card data and other sensitive information on file. Our Self-Pay Management System enables providers to move beyond simply obtaining a credit score to establishing an economic profile of the patient via the assimilation of demographic data, which protects patients and provides a more accurate picture of a patient’s capacity to pay.”

For more information, download the Issue Brief “Protecting Patient and Credit Privacy As Self- Pay Collections Move From the Back End to the Front End” from nTelagent’s website, www.ntelagent.com.

Those healthcare service providers who do rely on credit data to determine capacity to pay should consider this type of information’s limitations and associated privacy risks. For example, a credit score does not necessarily give a good indication of whether a patient will pay a medical bill, as credit scores are based on voluntary purchases and medical debt is largely involuntary. Other limitations, such as security freezes and state and federal legislation, can also limit the usefulness and availability of a credit score. And finally, using and storing credit card numbers, Social Security numbers and credit report data is extremely risky and vulnerable to identity theft attacks -- from both outside and inside healthcare facilities.

“Given current trends within the healthcare industry, providers must determine what type of information is most appropriate, and least vulnerable to attack,” continues Winter. “Our Self-Pay Management System works to manage and protect the necessary data, which in turn protects both the provider and the patient. Using available demographic information, combined with a provider’s unique business policies, the system provides registrars and financial counselors with online scripting, instructing them on the exact steps to be taken with each patient. This allows service providers to quickly, easily and safely assess a patient’s capacity to pay, as well as more consistently determine eligibility for charity care or assistance programs.”

About nTelagent, Inc.

nTelagent, a Nashville, Tenn.-based company, enables healthcare service providers to revolutionize the way they interact with patients regarding patient responsibilities at the point of service, including offering price transparency and medical financing options. The company’s Self-Pay Management System increases upfront cash and overall collections by providing registrars and financial counselors with interactive scripts that integrate patient demographic information with each provider’s unique business policies and rules. The system automatically identifies discounting and charity care options when applicable, and helps to ensure that patient financial accounting--for both insured and uninsured patients-- is handled appropriately and in a non-discriminatory manner. For healthcare providers, nTelagent’s system improves upfront and overall cash flow, receivables and profitability by reducing bad debt and improving the revenue cycle process for patients who must pay a portion of the bill through payment requirements, such as co-pays, co-insurance and deductibles. Visit nTelagent online at www.ntelagent.com to learn more.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Laura Campbell
President & CEO
Laura Campbell & Associates
laura@laura-campbell.com
615 579 6599