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Where’s the Money? Current and Future State of Healthcare Payments for Payers

The concept of health insurance in the U.S. first started during the Great Depression when Baylor University Hospital in Texas offered teachers the benefit of prepaid hospital expenses for a $5 per month fee. However, it wasn’t until World War II that health insurance became a widespread benefit offered by employers. WWII forced employers to rely on “fringe benefits” like health insurance to attract more workers to meet the higher demand for resources to help fight the war, while food

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Payers, What Does Age Have to Do With Healthcare Payments?

Healthcare spending grew to $3.48 trillion in 2019 and is expected to reach $6.2 trillion by 2028 (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services). Much of this growth has been and continues to be spurred by increasing consumer responsibility for both healthcare services and health plan premiums.

Consumer payment responsibility for healthcare services has increased. This is partly due to high deductible health plans, which have become increasingly popular with employer groups and in the individual market. In 2010, 10 million consumers

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And the Award Goes to…Healthcare Payments Innovators!

The major award shows you watch on TV have very little to do with healthcare payments, but that shouldn’t mean great innovators in the healthcare industry should go unrecognized for their achievements. That’s why we’ve decided to acknowledge the following healthcare organizations for going above and beyond in their efforts to attain healthcare payments excellence. We assure you, we haven’t accidentally announced “La La Land” in place of any of the real winners.

The Award for Most Innovative Digital Wallet Offering

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A Look Ahead at Healthcare Payment Innovations in 2017

At InstaMed, we’re proud of the innovations we delivered in 2016 that helped providers and payers collect and manage payments more efficiently and helped improve the consumer experience. At the start of a new year, we want to look at how the challenges facing providers, payers and consumers have changed or evolved, and how we can continue to improve and do more to answer the needs of our customers for simplifying healthcare payments.

Provider and payer organizations are becoming more complex

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Healthcare Payment Profile: Digital Wallet

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Many consumers use digital wallets to speed up the checkout process when buying online. Healthcare providers can use this same technology to streamline patient payments.

What is a digital wallet?

A digital wallet is an electronic device that allows a consumer to store payment information electronically so they can make a payment online.

Digital wallets make online payments easier by storing a consumer’s payment information and preferences

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“Hut! Set! Hike!” — A Healthcare Provider’s Playbook to Consumer-Friendly Payments

September marks the start of a new football season, and with that comes some changes to the way the game is played. This year alone, NFL players and coaches will have to adapt to changes like new rules for extra point kick attempts, harsher penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct and the relocation of the Rams due to changing market demand.

Much like the game of football, the healthcare payments landscape is constantly evolving. Rules, regulations, competition and industry trends like the demands

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How to Deliver a Consumer-Friendly Experience to All Stakeholders

The healthcare industry has been focused on understanding and adapting to the new impacts of healthcare consumerism, and for good reason; the Sixth Annual Trends in Healthcare Payments Report identified consumerism as one of the major trends impacting healthcare organizations today. In a separate blog post this month, InstaMed CTO and co-founder, Chris Seib, outlines some of the most critical consumer payment behaviors that affect healthcare providers today.

While healthcare organizations should continue improving the consumer experience, new processes should not

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There’s Still Too Much Paper in Healthcare

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There are many ways to reduce the amount of paper in the healthcare payments process. Online patient portals, eStatements and check-in stations are paperless ways to improve efficiency and deliver a convenient, consumer-friendly patient experience.

Many providers have taken strides to implement solutions like these and reduce the amount of paper in healthcare payments. However, there is an important difference between less paper and paperless.

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Has Your Data Gone Phishing?

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An estimated 91% of hacking attacks begin with a phishing or spear-phishing email, so healthcare organizations should be very serious about tackling this threat head-on. One of the best ways to protect against phishing emails is to educate your organization about these kinds of attacks.

The truth is, phishing is no laughing matter. Phishing is a type of social engineering that uses emails designed to

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How to Integrate Payments: A 2-Step User Guide for Providers

Last month, we talked about the benefits of integrating payments with your existing healthcare applications, including increased collections, greater efficiency, better security and happier patients. To realize the full potential of these benefits, a healthcare organization needs to integrate payment two ways: into its technology and its processes.

Step 1: Embed Payment Functionality into Existing Systems

Integration connects your systems to share data automatically. Use an integrated payment solution to embed payment functionality within your existing provider-facing and patient-facing systems to create

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