Patriot Pay makes medical billing — and paying — easier

Matthew Kaplan grew up knowing his parents spent their days caring for patients — his mom as a nurse, his father in a hospital laboratory. While he appreciated how their successful careers supported their family of 10, he didn’t, at first, see there might be opportunities in health care for him.

Kaplan instead studied and delved into hydrocarbons. It was only while working in entry-level positions in that field he began to see opportunities on the business side of medicine. He earned a master's degree in business administration, pivoted into health care administration, and began partnering in joint business ventures with a mentor, learning the complexities of insurance, deductibles and patient billing.

His most recent endeavor was founding a Manchester-based software platform in June 2024. Called Patriot Pay, it helps providers collect fees owed by patients, by helping consumers understand the total cost and what they owe after insurance, and giving them a mechanism to pay easily online.

“There are two winners in this story, and that was by design,” Kaplan said, noting he gets positive feedback about the platform from providers and patients alike.

He sees his local-roots success story as an example of how New Hampshire is contributing to health care innovation, and, as a native of Franklin, finds it meaningful to have built something that’s creating impact “right here at home.”

Career in hydrocarbons

Kaplan and his wife, Rebecca, live in Goffstown, with their two daughters. It’s a quick ride to Kaplan’s office in Manchester, and less than an hour from his hometown.

After graduating from Franklin High School in 2010, Kaplan headed to the University of New Hampshire, to study geological sciences. He also played football, and was named All-Conference on the No. 1-ranked UNH Wildcats team in 2014.

He graduated a year later. “I had a passion to go work in the oil patch,” he said. “Hydrocarbons drive the world, and I wanted to be a part of the geological science and exploration that went into uncovering traps of oil.”

Because he wanted to stay close to home and the younger siblings he didn’t see much of while in college, Kaplan didn’t head out to Texas or Alaska, but instead signed on with Wilcox & Barton, an environmental consulting firm where Kaplan did groundwater and soil testing, soil remediation and petroleum tank removals.

He did similar work for Weston Solutions in Concord. Then, he started thinking about health care.

Pivoting to a new venture

Kaplan’s mother has worked at Lakes Region General Hospital — now Concord Hospital-Laconia — for nearly 40 years, and his late father worked in the laboratories of several area hospitals before he died in 2021, of COVID.

Living in the “real world,” Kaplan began to see business opportunities in health care. He was particularly interested in supporting small, independent health care providers, and providing an affordable gateway for patients. He began work on an MBA with a focus in health care in 2017, interning with organizations like Clear Choice MD, to get as much exposure to the industry as possible.

In 2018, he took the risk of asking Nick Vailas, the father of two college football teammates, for a job. Kaplan describes Vailas as a health care entrepreneur, trailblazer and legend.

Over four decades, Vailas immersed himself in the state’s health care industry, co-founding and operating businesses offering ambulatory services, including Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center, ExpressMED and Apple Therapy Services.

Vailas became Kaplan’s mentor.

He’d founded Orchard Medical Management in 2004, to centralize the administrative functions for some clinics he operated, and knew he had more to offer. So, in 2018, Vailas launched Patriot Health Partners, offering management and administrative services to community health centers and specialty groups across the Granite State.

Kaplan found a role there.

In 2023, the management structures for Patriot Health Partners and Orchard Medical Management unified, with Kaplan as president. Since then, Kaplan and Vailas have started other businesses together, and co-invested in ventures, as well.

Imagining Patriot Pay

With 80 clients across New England and 10 farther south, it was becoming harder for company staff to manage accounts receivable. In fall 2023, a definitive health care study showed 52% of patient balances go uncollected, with patients bearing 30% of the responsibility.

Kaplan was determined to create a solution.

“I wanted to make it efficient and easy for patients to pay their bills,” Kaplan said, noting he had in mind a digital solution. Over six months, he worked with an advisory and investment firm for tech companies, and Patriot Pay software launched in June 2024.

“There’s no login, no user name, no portal access. The patient receives a message, validates date of birth, gets a bill, and with the integrated chat option, if somebody has a question, they can contact an operator,” Kaplan said, noting patients can use platforms such as Apple Pay or Google Pay to make the transaction.

“I’ll never forget that we got the first payment using the tool on the day my second daughter was born,” Kaplan said. “Payments were coming in quickly.”

One client of the product, a federal health center, was averaging $5,000 in monthly collections with mailed statements. In the first month with Patriot Pay, it collected $20,000, and a month later, after adding an enhancement that predicts a patient’s propensity to pay, that same organization collected $97,000, according to Kaplan.

“The CEO called to thank me,” he said. “Patients also love it.”

Patients who don’t understand the new bill-pay method can select “stop” or “unsubscribe,” and a paper bill will automatically be generated.

“This is a tool to make it easier for patients to pay their bill,” Kaplan said. “People find health payments complicated.”

Some bills, for instance, may show total cost, deductibles and what insurance pays, but it can remain unclear to the patient what payment amount is required of them. Patriot Pay makes that all clear. “They get the total charge from the provider, the rate the insurance company negotiated (and paid or will pay) and the amount the patient needs to pay,” Kaplan explained.

He says he gets emails with messages like, “Matthew, I couldn’t believe how easy it was to pay my bill,” or “This is a beautiful thing you’ve created.”

Currently, Patriot Pay has 75 clients, and roughly 100,000 patients who owe a balance at any given time. “We’re just getting started,” Kaplan said. “I’m a big believer in growth through relationships. We intentionally work with people who have existing relationships with health centers who can refer us to clients.”

He’s excited about the growth opportunities of Patriot Pay, and proud.

“I like waking up every day and, knowing I’m making a meaningful difference to independent providers. That’s what keeps us going.”