Creates market-leading offering by combining the claim pricing and payment capabilities of two industry leaders
June 20, 2023 – MultiPlan (NYSE: MPLN), a leading provider of technology and data-enabled cost management, payment, and revenue integrity solutions to the U.S. healthcare industry, and ECHO Health, Inc. (“ECHO®”), today announced a partnership that combines the services of each company to offer simplified, more cost-effective claim processing for third-party administrators, insurers, and other healthcare payors.
With over 40 years of experience, MultiPlan’s cost management, payment, and revenue integrity services reduce the cost of care by $22 billion annually on behalf of over 700 healthcare payors and their more than 100,000 employer customers. MultiPlan processes over $155 billion in claim charges annually through a broad range of editing, pricing, negotiation, and payment integrity applications. ECHO is a longstanding market leader in healthcare payments, processing more than 500 million provider payments per year for over 350 payors and an estimated 100,000 employer customers with electronic connectivity to over 900,000 unique providers.
“This partnership enables us to reduce overall administrative costs by offering our customers and providers easy access to provider payment services from a company with decades of experience and the scope and scale to make a lasting impact on the industry,” said Dale White, President and CEO of MultiPlan. “Our companies share a philosophy that our customers are better served when their health plan members’ providers also are valued. ECHO’s provider-forward payment services and recent innovations in combating payment fraud make them the ideal partner for MultiPlan.”
Administrative costs account for between 15 percent and 30 percent of U.S. healthcare spending. The Peterson Foundation estimates that the U.S. spends $1,055 per capita on administrative costs, more than three times as much as the next highest country.
Through a single platform, ECHO delivers payments and remittances to providers from over 350 payors, supporting a wide array of remittance formats and payment modalities. The platform employs proprietary filters and processes to guard against payment fraud, a growing issue that is estimated to impact up to 80% of provider organizations. ECHO also manages all reconciliation, exception handling, and payor reporting, including 1099 filing.
“ECHO has joined forces with a company that matches our scope and reach to help our customers manage not only their payments-related administrative costs, but also their total cost of care through better pricing for out-of-network claims,” added ECHO President Tom Dean. “We also see tremendous value for our customers in marrying their payments data with their claims data to deliver industry-leading, actionable intelligence through MultiPlan’s Data & Decision Science services.”
Under the joint marketing and services agreement, MultiPlan enhances its claim pricing services by adding payment processing of healthcare provider claims as well as payments made to other service providers. MultiPlan also now has the ability to extend payment processing services to payors that price their own claims. ECHO extends its service portfolio to include out-of-network cost management and decision science services.
About MultiPlan
MultiPlan is committed to delivering affordability, efficiency, and fairness to the US healthcare system by helping healthcare payors manage the cost of care, improve their competitiveness and inspire positive change. Leveraging sophisticated technology, data analytics and a team rich with industry experience, MultiPlan interprets customers’ needs and customizes innovative solutions that combine its payment and revenue integrity, network-based, and analytics-based services. MultiPlan is a trusted partner to over 700 healthcare payors in the commercial health, government, and property and casualty markets. For more information, visit multiplan.com.
About ECHO Health, Inc.
ECHO® is a technology company focused on removing complexity and costs from payment processing. ECHO saves its customers over $1 billion per year through comprehensive management of the claim payment process and providing access to the ECHO Payment Network, the industry’s largest network of insurers and service providers. ECHO settles over 500 million claims and distributes over $130 billion in payments securely across the ECHO Payment Network annually; and proprietary ECHO technology keeps policyholders and service providers happy by ensuring payments are sent in the manner they prefer. For more information, visit echohealthinc.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms “believes,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “seeks,” “projects,” “forecasts,” “intends,” “plans,” “may,” “will” or “should” or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts, including MultiPlan’s expectations and beliefs with respect to the partnership with ECHO and the impact of such partnership. The forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and speak only as of the date they are made. Any forward-looking statements that we make herein are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Factors that may impact such forward-looking statements also include the factors discussed under “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022; and other factors beyond our control. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. The Company’s periodic and other filings are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
