ApolloMD and Cascade365 Partner with RIP Medical Debt to Relieve Patient Debt

ATLANTA and LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y., Dec. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ApolloMD announces a partnership with Cascade365 to work in concert with RIP Medical Debt, resulting in the successful abolishment of more than $350M of patient medical debt spanning over 800,000 patient accounts. Recipients of debt abolishment began receiving notification by way of a RIP branded letter beginning in the month of June.

A multispecialty clinical services provider for hospitals and health systems, ApolloMD sees this action as part of a focus on quality patient care. "At ApolloMD, devotion to the patients treated by our physicians and advanced practice clinicians extends to include removing barriers to patient care by working to assist in the reduction of their medical debt. We continually seek opportunities to serve our patients in the best possible way and are excited to provide this support through RIP and Cascade365," says Amy Katnik, ApolloMD Chief Operating Officer.

RIP Medical Debt is a national not-for-profit which uses donor contributions to purchase low-income patients' medical debt and abolish it tax-free, sending letters to patients to deliver the happy news. Ruth Lande, RIP's VP of Hospital Relations, confirmed that they are purchasing ApolloMD's qualifying debt through their partnership with Cascade365. "We are very pleased to be working with Cascade365 to access so much debt. We have relieved debt for over 4 million families so far and hope more providers and collectors will join us in this critical work."

"While Cascade365 promotes financial accountability, we also recognize that some patient-guarantors simply cannot pay a bill in its entirety or, in some instances, at all," confirms Lee Brockett, CEO of the Cascade365 Family of Companies. "Cascade365 provides income-based settlement options and, when possible, it also partners with companies such as RIP Medical Debt to forgive medical debt in a patient-friendly manner. In this immediate instance, I am ecstatic to help extinguish $362MM in patient-owed medical debt in partnership with ApolloMD."

ApolloMD partners with more than 100 hospitals nationwide to provide integrated, multispecialty physician, APC, and practice management services in Emergency Medicine, Hospital Medicine, Anesthesia, and Radiology. Our high touch, solution-based approach emphasizes quality, efficiency, communication, and patient experience. ApolloMD works collaboratively with partner facilities to implement best practices and process improvement across the board in a cost-effective manner. Visit ApolloMD.com for more information.

The Cascade365 Family of Companies provides accounts receivable liquidity solutions to the healthcare industry through its innovative suite of services, including AR purchase and finance, third-party collection servicing and revenue cycle optimization. Cascade365 is committed to promoting financial accountability while treating patient-guarantors in a fair, dignified, and lawful manner. Cascade365's patient-friendly focus includes income-based settlements and debt forgiveness. To learn more, please visit Cascade365.com.

RIP Medical Debt (RIP) is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit that was founded in 2014 by two former debt collectors. To date RIP has acquired — and abolished — over $7 billion of burdensome medical debt, helping over 4 million families and addressing a major social determinant of health. Medical debt abolishment is source-driven and cannot be requested. RIP purchases debts for a fraction of their face value in bundled portfolios and partners with individuals, faith-based organizations, government, foundations, and corporations to empower donors by converting every dollar contributed into $100 of medical debt relief on average. To learn more, visit ripmedicaldebt.org.

SOURCE ApolloMD