What is Tokenization and Why Should Providers Care?

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As payment technology continues to advance, forward-thinking providers can leverage new ways to improve the healthcare payments process.

While tokenization has been around for years as a means of securely saving payment information, it wasn’t always widespread within the healthcare industry. It is important for healthcare to understand that tokenization offers benefits beyond adding a layer of security to payment card processing. By using this

Tagged healthcare consumerism, healthcare payments, healthcare payments process, healthcare payments technology, tokenization

The Payment Experience Patients Want

Less than a decade ago, there was no need for provider-patient interaction to extend beyond the patient visit. Today, patients play a critical role in the payments process, and providers must expand their relationship with their patients to include payments. Likewise, patients have a greater interest in their healthcare payments experience and expect the same kind of convenience and simplicity in paying their bills in healthcare as they have in other industries. This healthcare payments process presents new challenges and

Tagged Consumerism, healthcare payment experience, healthcare payments, increase collections, increase patient satisfaction, patient payments, patient responsibility, payment assurance

The Top 3 Essentials of Payment Security in Healthcare

Guest Blogger: Jeff Lin, Senior Vice President of Product Management, InstaMed

The Washington Post has deemed 2015 “the year of the healthcare hack” with multiple large-scale breaches already compromising the data of more than 100 million U.S. consumers. An issue compounding healthcare’s vulnerability is the rapid increase of consumer payment responsibility since the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Healthcare organizations are seeking ways to connect electronically with consumers to streamline the payments process, improve cash flow and ensure data security, which can significantly

Tagged Affordable Care Act, EMV, healthcare payment security, healthcare payments, P2PE, patient responsibility, PCI-DSS

Why Healthcare Needs Apple Pay

Guest Blogger: Chris Seib, CTO and Co-Founder of InstaMed

Apple Pay® has grown to 700,000 locations in the six months since its initial release in September 2014. Of these merchants accepting Apple Pay, consumer adoption of this payment type has increased rapidly as well, with major retailers reporting up to a 400 percent increase in Apple Pay transactions.

It would seem the rapid success of Apple Pay is attributed to simply offering consumers the ability to make payments from their mobile device.

Tagged Apple Pay, Consumerism, healthcare payments, patient payments, patient responsibility

Benefits of an Integrated Network in Payment Processing

Did you know?

30% of dollars in healthcare are wasted – Consumers Union, 2013
In 2014, 35% of providers did not collect patient responsibility at the point of service because they were uncertain about the amount due – Trends in Healthcare Payments Annual Report, 2014
On average, it takes 90 to 120 days to collect patient payments without electronic processes in place – InstaMed Provider Data

Traditionally, the healthcare payments process has been disjointed, involving countless transactions among multiple players across various touch points.

Tagged healthcare payments, healthcare transactions, InstaMed Network, private cloud

The Latest Innovation in Payment Security for Healthcare

Consumer payment channels are expanding rapidly with new technology, allowing consumers to pay virtually anywhere, from any device and in any way they choose. With the expansion of payment channels comes greater risks to the consumers and to the merchants who accept the payments. Payment security also continues to innovate, giving merchants new tools to protect cardholder data, prevent fraud and also protect their businesses from the risk of a data breach. As healthcare organizations evolve to accept more payment

Tagged EMV, healthcare payment security, healthcare payments, payment card, Payment Card Encryption

Infographic: Trends in Healthcare Payments

The healthcare payments industry is changing rapidly due to consumerism and regulatory mandates. InstaMed released the fourth annual Trends in Healthcare Payments Report showcasing data based on billions of healthcare payment transactions and surveys of thousands of providers, payers and consumers nationwide. Here are the highlights:

Tagged Consumerism, healthcare payments, patient statements, trends in healthcare payments

Virtual Payments: Not Just a Phase in Healthcare

Virtual payments are an emerging payment method for payers to send payments to providers using the card networks. These payments are more commonly known as “virtual cards,” since the recipient can process them just like a credit card.

Thirty-seven percent of providers indicated that they received virtual payments from some payers.

This statistic accurately demonstrates what many providers are currently experiencing: Virtual payments are increasingly leveraged by payers as an alternative to mailing paper checks. While many believe that virtual payments are

Tagged healthcare payments, patient payments, payer-to-provider payments, payers

Enhance the Consumer Payment Experience: Opportunities for Payers

A decade ago, the consumer’s role in the healthcare decision-making process was drastically different. Payers and employers managed virtually all of the health benefit decisions for consumers. Consumers were presented with one or two choices for a benefits package, visited the providers in their network and paid a minimal copay, if anything at all. Payment associated with healthcare services generally was not a focal point for consumers.

In recent years, the payment responsibility has shifted (and continues to shift) to the

Tagged Administrative Costs, Best Practice, Consumerism, healthcare payments, increase collections

Latest Trends and Practices for Payers to Prepare for the Future

A previous post detailed the latest trends in healthcare payments impacting how providers do business and best practices for providers to meet those challenges. However, the latest trends in healthcare payments present unique challenges for payers, which they must adequately prepare for – or risk consumer dissatisfaction and lost revenue.

Data from the 2013 Trends in Healthcare Payments Annual Report demonstrates that healthcare payments industry is evolving and outlines how payers can manage these changes. In particular, healthcare consumerism and provider

Tagged Best Practice, CAQH, Consumerism, ERA/EFT, healthcare payments, payers

Blog Post Topic: healthcare payments