VisitPay, a Boise, Idaho-based healthcare payments startup, has raised $15 million in a round led by Norwest Venture Partners. Ascension Health, which invests on behalf of a number of health systems, contributed to the round as well. VisitPay also rebranded (it was formerly known as iVinci Healthcare) and announced a new customer, Intermountain Healthcare.

 “Our cloud-based technology is in demand from patients and providers alike in this age of high-deductible health plans. It can be implemented across multiple billing systems in as little as 10 weeks,” Kent Ivanoff, CEO of VisitPay, said in a statement. “We are excited to begin this next stage of our journey and look forward to dramatically expanding the number of health systems and patient consumers we can serve.”

VisitPay offers hospitals an online payment platform for patients. The platform allows patients to see what they need to pay by integrating data from the patient's health plan and data from the health provider. It also allows patients to set up tailored installment payment plans, all online. By making it easier for patients to pay for their care, the software helps hospitals increase the number of patients that make their payments. 

While the problem of patients not paying has always existed in healthcare, rising deductibles have made it more common, and more damaging, to health system bottom lines.

St. Luke's Health System in Idaho and Orego, which has had VisitPay deployed since 2014, has seen a 50 percent increase in patient satisfaction ratings and a 20 percent increase in patient payment rates, according to VisitPay. Intermountain, which just began deploying the technology this past spring, is also seeing results.

"The early results from our VisitPay implementation are extraordinary,” Bert Zimmerli, EVP and CFO at Intermountain, said in a statement. “In the span of a few months we’ve seen the number of patients who rate their billing experience as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ improve by more than 40 percent.”