Medical bills are among the most dreaded type, often encompassing dozens of pages that are not very easily understand. Having patients easily understand these bills and the associated correspondences so are the lifeblood of medical practices that rely on that revenue to operate. MedPilot has built a sophisticated software-driven platform that serves as the perfect intermediary between providers and patients. By making use of big data and personalized communication methods, this platform analyzes the most effective way to reach out to each individual patient (e.g, through text, email, direct mail) to ensure that bills are paid accurately and in a timely manner.
LA TechWatch chatted with founders Jake Myers, Matt Buder Shapiro, and Nate Spoden to discuss the exciting process of building the platform, tackling collection in the medical industry, and the company’s progress through the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator.
Tell us about the product or service MedPilot offers.
We started with a well-known problem: people hate paying their medical bills, and healthcare providers need those bills to be paid in order to run their businesses. We founded MedPilot to help individuals better understand and resolve their medical bills. This enables providers to spend less time on collections and more time on treating patients. To date, we’ve already assisted over 350K patients and 55 providers.
Millions of data points gathered from integrated systems, power our product. This allows us to optimize our platform and to ensure health care providers can quickly resolve outstanding issues and balances. We personalize our communication methods, reaching each patient by using the technology they find most convenient. We also have insight into who has further questions or needs additional support, so patients can get the help they need faster.
How is MedPilot different?
Typically, a healthcare provider will mail out a number of billing statements and reminders, and then pass the patient over to debt collections if the bill hasn’t been paid. At MedPilot, we use big data to tailor a communication approach for each individual patient. Next, our analytics capabilities will continue to optimize as we learn from their interactions. The platform enables an integrated strategy that saves the healthcare provider time, money and energy that previous methods have wasted from uncoordinated efforts.
For example, our software may notice if a person more frequently responds to our texts first thing in the morning. Using this information, we may pause snail mail bills (saving the provider money) and focus our primary outreach around that time of day (making it easier for the patient to respond prior to heading to work).
What market is MedPilot attacking and how big is it?
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the percentage of patients with high deductible health plans has surged from around 15% in 2007 to more than 40% in 2017. With this shift, health care providers are seeing an increasingly large portion of their revenue tied to collecting directly from patients, which has led to an increased incentive to do so more effectively. With over five thousand hospitals, seventy-thousand urgent care facilities, and two-hundred thousand doctors’ offices, that makes for a pretty big market for us.
What is the business model?
Our primary focus is to help patients better understand and resolve their medical expenses. By doing so, we’re also helping healthcare providers increase the dollar amount they are able to recoup, as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible, and in a manner that minimizes the stress patients often feel in the medical billing process. Our fee is based on both financial performance and the volume of patient communication.
Our primary focus is to help patients better understand and resolve their medical expenses. By doing so, we’re also helping healthcare providers increase the dollar amount they are able to recoup, as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible, and in a manner that minimizes the stress patients often feel in the medical billing process. Our fee is based on both financial performance and the volume of patient communication.
Tell us a little about your background and what inspired the business?
Two of us (Jake & Nate) came from revenue cycle management, where we saw firsthand some of the frustrations involved in trying to collect bills from patients directly. The third (Matt) built a career focused in client and media engagement, which allowed us to leverage more innovative approaches to communications technology. We’ve been able to bring together a team of 20 employees that specialize in both technology and customer support to ensure a seamless experience for our patients.
Please tell us about your experience with the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator. What progress has your company made the through the program?
We feel extremely fortunate to be a part of the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator, powered by Techstars. Since the beginning of the program, we have grown from 15 customers to over 50. Our participation has given us the opportunity to learn directly from them on how to build a product that can meet the needs of a world-class hospital, and we are excited to explore potential collaborations with them in the future.
Tell us what building your company in LA has been like?
MedPilot is located primarily in Cleveland, so it’s been a nice change of pace to have endless sunshine and easy beach access between our meetings. Kidding aside, we’ve enjoyed how welcoming the whole community has been to us, and the incredible access to leading healthcare providers.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
We are fully focused on customer growth in the next 6 months, with plans to launch our offering to over 100 healthcare providers including at least two health systems.
If you could be put in touch with one person in the LA Tech tech community who would it be and why?
We’d love to meet Evan Spiegel; he’s had a tremendous impact on the user engagement space with his visionary perspective on a new medium for communication.
What does being “Made in LA” mean to you and your company?
LA is the city that creates experiences for most of the world. MedPilot’s goal is to transform people’s experiences with patient billing communication.
What else can be done to promote early-stage entrepreneurship in Los Angeles?
More events! LA is a big, sprawling city, and so creating an inclusive community is critical. Organized events create relationships between entrepreneurs and give founders exposure to a broader set of investors.
What is your favorite restaurant in LA?
Gracias Madre. We are not even close to being vegans, but this place makes us consider it.