Iowa hospital to offer patient-friendly loan program

A critical access hospital in northern Iowa has implemented a program offering below-market interest rate loans to help patients cover self-pay hospital expenses.

Hancock County Memorial Hospital, a 25-bed county-owned facility, is partnering with CSI Financial Services, a San Diego-based firm specializing in patient loan programs, to offer the service.

Emdeon acquires Chamberlin Edmonds

In a move that will add government program patient eligibility and enrollment services to its revenue cycle management suite, Emdeon has announced its agreement to acquire Chamberlin Edmonds & Associates, which serves more than 200 acute care facilities in 30 states.

Chamberlin Edmonds uses technology designed to help hospitals lower the incidence of uncompensated care, reduce bad-debt expense and increase overall cash flow. Emdeon will acquire the Atlanta-based, privately held company for $260 million in cash.

ClearCount receives financing to expand sponge-detection system

A healthcare IT company focused on reducing costly “never events” in hospitals by keeping track of used surgical sponges has raised $5 million to continue and expand its work.

ClearCount Medical Solutions, based in Pittsburgh, announced on Tuesday the close of its $5 million Series B financing round. Company officials say they’ll use the financing to drive market penetration and new research and development of their products, which make use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to track used sponges in surgical areas of the hospital.

CarePayment Technologies acquires Vitality Financial, boosts self-pay services

CarePayment Technologies, Inc., a healthcare financial services company in Portland, Ore., has acquired San Francisco-based Vitality Financial, which provides hospital payment solutions to providers and patients.

CarePayment will continue Vitality Financial's operations at its San Francisco headquarters, and some members of Vitality's executive team will remain with the company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Innovent Oncology teams with Milliman to develop oncology risk models

Innovent Oncology, a division of US Oncology, has engaged the actuarial and consulting firm Milliman to help develop risk contracting methodologies – including episode rates, bundled payments and capitation – to help identify potential areas where oncologists can improve quality of care while lowering health costs.