If you are an Oklahoma resident between the age of 19 to 64 with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level, you may be eligible. The annual gross income cap is $17,796 for a single person or $36,588 for a family of four. 

There are an estimated 200,000 additional Oklahomans that can get coverage with the expansion, including many adult males who were previously often ineligible under the old rules. Not only will patients have improved health outcomes under this program, but provider groups, hospitals, physicians, and more will benefit as well. 

July 1st through September 30th, new enrollees may get SoonerCare benefits that are coordinated by the Oklahoma Health Care Authority. On October 1st, 2021, OHCA plans to provide four private companies to coordinate care on behalf of the State. This will be a managed care program called SoonerSelect. 

Benefits of Medicaid Expansion

Having Medicaid expansion results in multiple economic benefits. It is proven that individuals who have medical insurance are more likely to get access to different preventative care options. This is crucial because a lot of individuals will leave their illnesses untreated if they cannot afford the cost of treatment. Insured individuals are less likely to go to the emergency room for an illness that is not an emergency, which saves money for both hospitals and patients. In addition, Medicaid expansion increases healthcare access for adults without children, parents, and low-income adults who are able to work. 

Now What?

The Midland Group is a trusted patient advocacy firm. We have worked with different facilities across the country and have seen firsthand the incredible benefits that accompany Medicaid expansion: for the patients, hospitals, and states. Our goal has always been to increase people’s access to healthcare and protect the financial health of our partner hospitals. With over 30 years of experience, our team stands by ready to assist our partner hospitals to qualify their patients for various public benefit programs. Our trained patient advocates are familiar with all the tools and ever-changing rules and regulations revolving around all forms of health-related public benefits. Contact us today for more information regarding how we can help you. 

The post Oklahoma Joins in Medicaid Expansion appeared first on The Midland Group.

What’s the Problem?

While the issue at hand is multi-factorial, one of the biggest causes of these closures and losses is revenue pressure. According to Becker’s Hospital Review, “rural areas have fewer commercial payers than more urban markets, which means these hospitals have a higher volume of state-funded healthcare with lower reimbursement rates.” To add to that issue, we also know from experience that many Critical Access Hospitals struggle to secure reimbursement when patients are transferred to the larger Acute care facilities not long after they arrive. Larger facilities have dedicated personnel to deal with the complexities of filing rules, which tends to affect which facility receives the applicable reimbursement to be in their favor. With their comparative lack of resources, it’s easy to understand why Critical Access Hospitals often miss out on various reimbursement opportunities and thus have significant financial struggles.

Introducing Midland On-Call

Here at The Midland Group, we believe in the importance of helping Critical Access Hospitals not only survive, but thrive. We understand that, unlike many of the larger hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals hold up an important pillar of the economy in many rural areas. In fact, we believe that not only are Critical Access Hospitals vital in the creation of jobs and opportunities for its communities, they also act as incentive for businesses to open their doors and for families to move to these counties. As the NRHA puts it, “without a rural hospital, a community will crumble.”

That’s where we step in.  After many long months spent on careful development, The Midland Group is pleased to announce our latest program, Midland On-Call: Patient Advocacy and Self-Pay Solutions reserved exclusively for Critical Access Hospitals.  This membership program offers Critical Access Hospitals the same resources and firepower traditionally reserved for large acute care hospitals and multi-provider based healthcare systems in a way that is effective and financially makes sense for any CAH facility.

Features of Midland On-Call include:

• Public Benefit Eligibility Solutions including Medicaid Screening & Application Processing, SSI/SSDI, Crime Victims Compensation, etc.
• Early Out Support including prompt-pay and payment plan negotiation.
• Managed payment plans at no cost to your hospital.
• Financial Assistance Screening and application assistance
• Accident Recovery Solutions including PIP/Med-Pay capture, hospital lien filing, and Workers’ Compensation follow-up.
• Annual 501(r) compliance consultation & legal review, ongoing business office training & support, and much more.
• You choose how patient-centered resources are applied to your patient population.

Now What?

We understand the confusion and difficulty in navigating the financial landscape of healthcare these days. If you are part of a Critical Access Hospital, know that you are not alone. As a community-minded partner, The Midland Group has helped countless facilities–small and large alike–to increase billing efficiency and maximize reimbursement rates. As a member of the Midland On-Call program, our participating CAH partners ensure that their patients receive the advocacy they need to qualify for public healthcare benefits and have the information they need to resolve their self-pay balances. Book your free assessment today to learn more about the program and find out how you can secure an On-Call membership. Let us deal with the hard stuff so that you can focus on what matters.

The post Introducing Midland On-Call: Exclusive Solutions for Critical Access Hospitals appeared first on The Midland Group.

Disability Professionals is a disability advocacy service with locations in Wichita, Lawrence, Pueblo, and Sioux Falls.  Since 1994, DP has helped thousands of disabled individuals obtain benefits from the Social Security Administration. They have very experienced advocates that assist people to apply and appeal denials for these disability benefits.

DP’s Qualified Social Security Disability Advocates have been successful at all phases of the administrative process. DP helps with:

• Initial Social Security Disability applications
• Administrative hearings
• Advice and referrals

As of now, Disability Professionals have over 500 open cases and have assisted thousands of people over their 25 year existence. In the past, they have frequently provided application and appeal assistance to Midland hospital patients seeking SSI or SSDI to qualify for Medicaid. Without a doubt, The Midland Group believes that Disability Professional’s SSA certified non-attorney advocates are some of the best professionals available today.

By creating this merger, The Midland Group will greatly enhance our effectiveness in getting patients eligible for Medicaid. Additionally, this allows us to open up a new service line to patients who want to not only get Medicaid but also cash benefits.

We are confident that this new relationship with Disability Professionals will give us more opportunities to help more people and develop wider reach. We can’t be more excited to work alongside the DP team!

Let’s all welcome Disability Professionals as part of The Midland Group!

The post News Release: Disability Professionals Joins The Midland Group appeared first on The Midland Group.

The company featured its popular social hour item, the Midland Mojito, at Wednesday evening’s opening reception and tradeshow. This year’s theme was “Charting Your Way Through the Changing Healthcare Landscape,” a timely and fitting theme with recent healthcare regulation. Topics of discussion included: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regulations and the impact on providers, physician-hospital alignment, electronic health records, Medicare value-based payments and other changes to Medicare, effective cost cutting strategies, ICD-10 implementation, developing strategic alliances, and more.

The display exhibit provided ample opportunity for Midland to share information with attendees about its services in early-out and patient payment plan management, Medicaid eligibility services, and third-party billing and lien services.

“This event was well organized and the presentation topics were especially meaningful given the current changing healthcare environment,” said Nick Schmidt, Senior Client Development Representative. According to Schmidt, “We appreciate the opportunity to participate as the exclusive sponsor of the event social hour. Our goal was to do something different by offering Midland Mojitos as a beverage choice. I think the mojitos were well received, to say the least.”

The Midland Group, a nationally recognized provider of Self-Pay Solutions® for hospitals, is owned and controlled by a non-profit charitable trust. In addition to providing patients with Medicaid eligibility enrollment, third-party billing and filing accident/liability liens, they provide flexible, affordable and low-interest patient payment plans to hospitals as part of their mission to improve access to healthcare for low-income and uninsured patients. For more information about The Midland Group and their Self-Pay Solutions®, call (855) 890-9586.

The post The Midland Group Exhibits at Annual Joint Spring Conference of HFMA appeared first on The Midland Group.

As part of an ongoing partnership with Salina Regional Health Center, The Midland Group is working in cooperation with full-time staff to resolve many of the hospital’s difficult third-party payer accounts. Work on the project began in late February and is expected to take up to a year to complete. Once complete, The Midland Group will have successfully worked more than 2,500 accounts totaling in excess of $4.5 million.

“We value our ongoing relationship with Salina Regional Health Center, and are looking forward to providing high-quality service and results on this project,” said Roger McCollister, CEO of The Midland Group. “Our specialists have years of experience in working with all payer types, especially in difficult cases and have the expertise needed to work with these payers successfully.”

Salina Regional Health Center assigned the project to The Midland Group as part of the companies’ continued partnership in effect spanning more than 20 years. The Midland Group will be working with all commercial-payer accounts, resolving difficult balances for the hospital. Since 1993, Salina Regional Health Center has partnered with The Midland Group to, among other services, advocate for uninsured patients with Medicaid eligibility application assistance.

Salina Regional Health Center also utilizes the expertise of The Midland Group to resolve commercial payer accounts through accident/liability lien filing and tracking. When a patient is injured in an accident that isn’t his or her fault and hospital bills remain unpaid. The Midland Group works directly with responsible parties and the process to ensure direct payment to the hospital is made when payment is ultimately made following litigation or settlement.

The Midland Group a nationally recognized provider of Self-Pay Solutions® for hospitals, is owned and controlled by a non-profit charitable trust. In addition to providing patients with public benefit enrollment assistance, third-party billing and filing accident/liability liens, they provide flexible, affordable and low-interest patient payment plans to hospitals as part of their mission to improve access to healthcare for low-income and uninsured patients. For more information about The Midland Group and their Self-Pay Solutions®, call (855) 890-9586 or info@midlandgroup.com.

Salina Regional Health Center, located in Salina, Kansas, is a comprehensive acute care hospital that serves all of North Central Kansas. With 171 staffed beds and more than 7,000 inpatient discharges annually, Salina Regional Health Center boasts a Level III Trauma Center, a 26-bed Intensive Care Unit and a Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. For more information about Salina Regional Health Center, visit their website www.srhc.com or call (785) 452-7000.

The post News Release: The Midland Group Takes on Project to Resolve Difficult Commercial Payer Accounts appeared first on The Midland Group.

The post News Release: The Midland Group Announces an Expansion and New Location in Flowood, MS appeared first on The Midland Group.

This low-interest plan gives patients with self-pay balances the option of paying their hospital bill over time and allows future bills to be added to the balance without the added paperwork. Unlike other types of patient payment plans or typical loan programs, The Midland Payment Plan has no application or qualification requirements. This plan has no effect on the patient’s credit history and there is no prepayment penalty. Midland will manage all aspects of the patient payment plan and accept all payments on behalf of the hospital.

Roger McCollister, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Midland Group, says his company is committed to helping hospitals like Montfort Jones Memorial make healthcare affordable. According to McCollister, “MontfortJonesMemorialHospital is the kind of hospital we want to work with. They genuinely care about their patients and they recognize that quality healthcare encompasses all phases of the patient experience—including post-care payment options.”

The Midland Group also partners with Montfort Jones Memorial Hospital as their public benefits eligibility provider, helping the hospital’s uninsured patients gain access to healthcare services through Medicaid application assistance. Patients needing more information about Midland’s services at Montfort Jones Memorial Hospital may contact Midland’s Customer Care Center at (800) 595-7868.

The Midland Group, a nationally recognized provider of Self-Pay SolutionsTM for hospitals, is owned and controlled by a non-profit charitable trust. Among other revenue cycle services, they provide flexible, affordable and low-interest patient payment plans to hospitals as part of their mission to improve access to healthcare for low-income and uninsured patients. For more information about The Midland Group and their Self-Pay Solutions^TM, call (855) 890-9586 or info@midlandgroup.com.

Montfort Jones Memorial Hospital is a comprehensive 72-bed acute-care hospital in Kosciusko, Mississippi, offering full-service medical care to the citizens of central Mississippi. For more information about Montfort Jones Memorial Hospital, please call (662) 289-4311 or visit www.montfortjones.com.

#

The post News Release: Montfort Jones Memorial Hospital Offers New “Patient-Friendly” appeared first on The Midland Group.

OHA has chosen The Midland Group as a partner because clients can expect professional, capable and money-saving technologies at the most competitive, value-added rates.

“Hospitals are at a disadvantage when it comes to vendor selection because of the time and resources it tak­es to ensure the choice is truly top quality at the best rates,” according to Craig W. Jones, FACHE, President of OHA. “In our opinion, The Midland Group offers the coverage, resources and close management oversight needed to provide the high quality service our Oklahoma hospitals and their patients deserve.”

The OHA Preferred Partner Network is a preferred vendor network for Oklahoma Hospital Association member hospitals. Participants in the OHA Preferred Partner Network benefit from cost and time savings, while being assured of continuous quality monitoring. The Oklahoma Hospital Association conducts ongoing performance reviews to continually monitor the quality and value of services and products to members. OHA provides this network so members can minimize the time-consuming process of comparing companies and services as well as the contract negotiation. Members also save valuable time by taking advantage of research and due diligence performed on their behalf.

Serving Oklahoma hospitals for nearly 20 years, The Midland Group is a broad base provider of an entire suite of services for effective revenue cycle management. Midland was founded in 1989 with a desire to help patients who could not afford their healthcare expenses. Midland is unique in that it is owned and controlled by a 501(c)(3) charitable trust. Their mission is to protect hospitals’ financial health by increasing access to healthcare for all patients regardless of financial circumstances.

“Our experience helping the patients of our Oklahoma hospital partners has been genuinely gratifying,” says Roger McCollister, President and CEO of The Midland Group. “We view our association with the Oklahoma Hospital Association as a great opportunity to continue our efforts to improve access to healthcare and help Oklahoma hospitals thrive in this era of tremendous change.”

Public Benefits Eligibility and Managed Payment Plans are key components of Midland’s Self-Pay Solutions suite of services. For more information about The Midland Group, visit their website at www.midlandgroup.com or call (888) 233-8825.

The post News Release: Oklahoma Hospital Assoc. Welcomes Midland Group into the Preferred Partner Network appeared first on The Midland Group.