We’re not proud to admit it. More than one of us here at Sapphire has almost been sent to collections because we didn’t pay a healthcare bill on time. In our defense, the bills looked like spam. So when we met Levon and his team over six years ago, when Collectly was still in Y Combinator, we knew immediately they were on to something.
Since then, the problem has only become more acute. We believe the patient billing process is outdated, marked by highly manual billing systems, confusing paperwork and frustrating experiences for all involved. In fact, inefficient payment processes mean some providers collect only 55% of what they’re owed, while patients are often left with bills they were not expecting or cannot afford.
Collectly is tackling this challenge head-on, offering an innovative patient billing platform that makes it easier for medical groups, billing and revenue cycle management (RCM) companies, as well as hospital and health systems to manage their finances and for patients to understand and pay their bills. That’s why Sapphire is excited to lead the company’s $29 million Series A financing. While Collectly is already experiencing incredible market pull, we believe co-founders Levon Brutyan (CEO) and Maxim Mizotin (CTO) are just getting started, and we are thrilled to welcome Collectly to the Sapphire portfolio.
Bridging the disconnect between providers and patients
Collectly anticipates that medical providers will fail to collect a staggering ~$200B in 2023. This is largely due to highly manual collection workflows: 78% of providers primarily obtain fees from patients through paper statements sent by snail mail or direct staff outreach. Yet 73% of consumers prefer to pay medical bills online, highlighting the deep chasm between providers and patients.
Collectly addresses this mismatch through an end-to-end billing workflow that engages both medical providers and patients. We believe the magic of Collectly begins with the programmatic, direct integrations it builds into Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, allowing the company to seamlessly push and pull patient payment data from the EHR.
In addition to streamlining EHR connectivity, Collectly has made it easy for medical groups to track the billing lifecycle end-to-end through an intuitive dashboard. Revenue collection administrators can build customizable rules for patient engagement and payments, as well as shift patient engagement to digital channels (e.g., live chat). This provides a notable step change for medical groups that have traditionally relied on a “one size fits all” approach for patient outreach campaigns, regardless of demographic.
Lastly, Collectly empowers the patient, who no longer falls prey to highly opaque and complex medical bills. Instead, bills can be delivered digitally via text with clear descriptors for the amount owed and an option to pay with two clicks. Patients can also create their own payment plans to clear large balances and access customer support at the time of payment. Collectly estimates that almost half of medical bills result in a question; the ability to quickly address any inquiries is critical to ensuring payment.
All of this innovation results in tangible benefits for both the medical provider and the patient, as Collectly has been proven to improve patient collections by 75%, reduce Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) to 12 days (versus up to 90+ days), and achieve a 93% patient satisfaction score.
