The Digital Transformation of Payment Acceptance in the Healthcare Industry
How Electronic Billing and Payment Technology is Transforming the Healthcare Industry
The healthcare industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the payment technology landscape as it has undergone a staggering transformation in how consumers handle their healthcare bills. Patients are increasingly gravitating towards innovative payment technologies that provide greater convenience and bill payment consolidation. These latest technologies are geared towards mobile and e-commerce solutions such as mobile apps and card readers, digital wallets, and self-registration kiosks. The benefits of such solutions are many — healthcare organizations are able to provide an easier, convenient, and more secure way for patients to pay for their services while promoting improved collections and cash flow.
According to a recent report conducted by InstaMed, 82% of Medicare beneficiaries want to make all of their healthcare payments in one place and 85% prefer an electronic payment method for medical bills and premiums. To meet growing demand, healthcare providers must rise to the occasion and focus on finding billing and invoicing solutions that improve the bill pay experience and minimize missed or late payments. Not only does this simplify invoicing operations, but it streamlines the payment infrastructure for healthcare clinics. In this blog, we’d like to discuss the benefits of the latest innovative payment technologies that are reshaping the healthcare industry, such as payment integrations with medical practice management systems, integrated payment terminals at the point of care, online bill pay, mobile payment solutions, recurring payments, and more.
Payment Trends That are Paving the Way for Healthcare Providers
Most patients are familiar with how a typical payment process is like at the clinic—walking up to the front desk to check in, handing over their credit card or cash for co-payments and patient balances, or receiving a bill in the mail a few days later. This traditional approach to making healthcare payments is outdated and slows down the billing and account receivables process. Not to mention, it also results in more frequent missed or late payments and increased administrative costs of having to follow up with patients. With virtual care solutions like telehealth becoming increasingly popular among beneficiaries, patients opt for secure ways to pay online or through their mobile devices. While innovative payment methods are becoming more and more accessible, let’s take a look at the payment trends that are pivoting the healthcare industry:
Payment Integrations with Medical Practice Management and EHR Software Systems
A pressing issue among clinics is their outdated payment management systems. Billing and invoicing operations can be highly burdensome and time-consuming for healthcare providers who are spending time manually entering patient and card information. To address this challenge, healthcare professionals can look for the right payment gateway that seamlessly integrates with their existing medical business management software while streamlining the checkout experience. Our payment gateway is compatible with a wide variety of medical management software systems to support multiple patient payment methods. With Cardknox’s intuitive payment gateway, providers can experience less friction and alleviate the complexities of the billing process, such as manual entry of card data, tedious account reconciliations, delayed checkout flows, and declined or missed payments.
Advanced Point-of-Care Hardware and Software
Clinics that have upgraded to integrated payment terminals in-office understand the convenience of being able to accept many different payment options. Cardknox supports a wide variety of payment terminals and payment methods, such as EMV chip cards, magnetic stripe cards, digital wallets, HSA/FSA cards, and more. Plus, our iOS and Android mobile app and compatible card reader will help you process payments in-office or at the point of care with incredible ease. As smartphone use is becoming more prevalent than ever, accepting mobile payments is an excellent way for healthcare professionals to provide a mobile-friendly alternative to patients’ bill-pay experience. With our mobile app, clinics can accept mobile, magstripe, and contactless payments directly from their smartphone device.
Online Healthcare Payment Processing Solutions
Rather than waiting several days for a physical bill to arrive in the mail, patients want to have access to their bills quickly and efficiently from their computer or mobile device. At the same time, clinics would rather not have to wait for a check to come in the mail to finalize the payment process, and then record transaction records manually for bookkeeping purposes. This whole process could take several weeks for just a single patient. Another pitfall of this process is that it increases the odds that patients will miss a payment.
Cardknox has an array of online solutions for medical providers to help healthcare facilities expand their bill pay methods. Our Merchant Portal is a virtual terminal that integrates with your existing patient portal and doesn’t require any setup on the merchant’s end. Along with accepting instant payments, users of the portal can monitor transaction data, store customer payment information, send email invoices, set up recurring payment schedules, and more. Alternatively, healthcare providers without a portal can benefit from Cardknox PaymentSITE — a fully customizable, hosted online payment form that can be easily embedded on a website or used as a standalone payment form for quick and smooth online bill payments.
Self-Service Registration Kiosks
Patient registration kiosks are growing in popularity as they enable healthcare providers to deliver greater comfort and convenience to patients by offering pre-registration on a tablet or other digital device. Recent data suggests that the global patient self-service kiosk market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 16.2% from 2021 to 2026. Patients can skip the lines and head directly to a registration kiosk to check-in, key in their credentials, capture images of their ID and insurance card, and pay on-site with a credit card or mobile wallet. This significantly reduces wait times, improves workflow efficiency, and streamlines the redundant paperwork process within one simple device.
Recurring Payments
For patients with several regular treatments and appointments, clinics can implement a recurring billing option to their payment plan. To keep track of routine patients and avoid missed payments, healthcare providers can set up highly-optimized payment schedules with secure storage of payment data to prevent late or missed bills. Schedule installments and recurring payments for your patients per your requirements, and automatically charge remaining balances at the scheduled times. Our support for recurring payments is perfect for continual appointments, prescription refills, and bill payment installments. To prevent declined transactions on scheduled payments, Cardknox has an Account Updater tool that scans all cards stored on file in order to locate and update any that are expired or inactive.
Keeping Up With Patient Expectations
As new technologies continue to unfold and patient expectations change, it is imperative for healthcare professionals to keep up with the latest payment technological innovations in order to provide greater flexibility, convenience, and customer satisfaction among healthcare seekers. Whether you’re a developer or healthcare clinic, investing in digital payment acceptance is the key to remaining prosperous in a shifting landscape. With a dedicated payment integration, medical clinics can streamline the billing operations, eliminate pain points and improve the overall patient bill pay experience.
Interested in learning more about our payment features for healthcare providers? Contact us today to learn more about our premier solutions specifically tailored for the healthcare industry.
