.006 Cents On The Dollar Removes Medical Debt

Independent primary care providers donate over $10,000 to buy $1,474,987.25 in unpaid medical bills………………………….

Article referred by Brian Klepper

$1.4 Million in Medical Bills Erased by Donation

IN A GROUNDBREAKING INITIATIVE, A LOCAL ALLIANCE OF DIRECT PRIMARY CARE CLINICS WAS ABLE TO SIGNIFICANTLY LESSEN — OR ELIMINATE — THE BURDEN OF MEDICAL DEBT FOR AREA RESIDENTS.

Kansas City, July 23, 2018 – Hundreds of people throughout the Kansas City metro headed to their mailboxes last week and found that their past-due notices and reminders for their unpaid medical bills had been replaced with letters declaring that their debts had been forgiven. Even more surprising was that a group of local doctors and nurse practitioners, The Midwest Direct Primary Care Alliance (MDPCA), was behind the debt relief.

Pulling from their own coffers, these independent primary care providers donated over $10,000 to buy $1,474,987.25 in unpaid medical bills. These medical bills belong to area residents who had been sent to collections by hospitals and clinics throughout the region.

The providers next partnered with the nonprofit organization RIP Medical Debt to turn around and forgive the $1.4 million in debt that had previously been the burden of 784 people in the Kansas City region. Letters noting the debt relief were sent out to recipients last week; impacted individuals will likely come forward with their stories after hearing of this initiative through press and learning that this isn’t fraud — it’s a gift of debt relief, no strings attached.

Medical debt affects every community and can destabilize any household. A June 2018 article in the Kansas City Star brought the local impact of medical debt into sharper focus: in some parts of the metro, up to 30% of households have medical debt in collections. And though these families aren’t yet at the point of bankruptcy, a 2009 research piece found that over 60% of bankruptcies studied were due to medical debt, and that the average balance leading to the bankruptcy was well over $5000.

“When I worked within the large hospital systems, I couldn’t tell you how much an MRI was. Or what a lab would cost the patient. As doctors, we had been blinded to the cost of care, and — whether we like it or not — we bore some responsibility for patients’ bills,” noted MDPCA member Ryan Neuhofel, DO, MPH of Lawrence, Kansas. He continued, “But now ’s our job, as direct primary care providers, to prioritize thinking about healthcare costs in the context of care and prevent debt like this from piling up in the first place.”

In addition to providing affordable, transparent health care to their patients, the Midwest Direct Primary Care Alliance hopes to erase even more past debt for local people through an ongoing crowdfunding campaign found online at https://www.midwestdpcalliance.org/medical-debt.

###

Press Contact
Allison Edwards MD
913-730-0331
Allison@kansascitydirectprimarycare.com