SearchAmerica(R) Adds New Service to Help Hospitals Better Manage Their Financial Health

Patient Open Balance Display(SM) provides comprehensive cross-facility and prior-visit patient account balances at point of service

MINNEAPOLIS, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- SearchAmerica®, a part of Experian and a leader in financial clearing services for health care, today unveiled the newest addition to its Payment Advisor Suite® and Address Checker(SM) products, Patient Open Balance Display(SM). This value-added service helps hospitals better manage their financial health by consolidating total patient and guarantor balance information from every facility and prior visit and delivering it to the registration or financial counseling staff. This timely information results in more productive financial discussions between patients and their health care providers.

"In today's economy, hospitals are looking for new and improved ways to understand their patients' financial obligations while offering and securing financial assistance to patients who need it," said Dan Johnson, president of SearchAmerica. "Our new Patient Open Balance Display provides health care networks with more comprehensive information regarding a patient's financial situation, enabling them to select the most appropriate assistance or payment strategy."

The new Patient Open Balance Display summarizes current and past balances by using the hospital's accounts receivable information, consolidating information from all facilities and receivables systems across the health care network. The service provides patient access staff with this information within seconds, giving them a more complete picture of the patient's outstanding financial obligation from which to make payment decisions.

Patient Open Balance Display is integrated into SearchAmerica's financial clearing products, Payment Advisor Suite and Address Checker, which are trusted by hospitals nationwide. The Payment Advisor Suite service enables organizations to properly identify and classify patients, predict payment likelihood and screen patients for financial assistance programs. The Address Checker service is integrated with each organization's health care information system and automatically validates and corrects patient demographics and screens for fraud.

Patient Open Balance Display is available from SearchAmerica. For information on SearchAmerica's revenue cycle services, email the company at [email protected] or call 1 763 416 1000.

About SearchAmerica Inc.

SearchAmerica, a part of Experian, leads the industry in financially clearing patients using address verification; prediction of payment; and automated screening for charity, Medicaid and other government programs with its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) services. The company provides a complete range of products that are used by more than 500 hospitals to improve their revenue cycles. SearchAmerica's quality and accuracy is best-in-class, and health care providers benefit from smarter data, which produces a healthier bottom line. Documented case studies prove a significant return on investment, consistent with favorable public relations. For additional information, please contact SearchAmerica at 1 763 416 1000 or visit http://www.searchamerica.com.

About Experian

Experian® is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 65 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2009, was $3.9 billion. Experian employs approximately 15,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; Costa Mesa, California; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.

Experian and the marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact:

Roslyn Whitehurst

Experian Public Relations

1 714 830 5578

[email protected]



SOURCE Experian