Healthcare Firms Move Real-Time Payments Higher on Priority List

If sector organizations haven’t already implemented real-time payments, nearly all plan on it.

With the short-term concerns of handling a pandemic mostly passed, healthcare and medical firms have been making modernization strides, catching up with other sectors in letting go of legacy systems and automating platforms such as accounts payable (AP).

As consumers demand the same ease in bill payments as they do for retail transactions, part of this strategic shift toward streamlined innovations includes making increased payment options available to patients. Just as merchants have, healthcare firms have recognized a need to do so in order to maintain and build their customer base.

The March PYMNTS collaboration with Corcentric, “Digital Payments: Expanding the Payments Palette,” examines the payment options healthcare firms currently support or plan to support. Currently averaging nearly six payment methods per company, healthcare notably lags finance and insurance when it comes to real-time payments.

The low current acceptance rate of real-time payments marks the start of its consumer-facing offering within the sector, however. Healthcare firms’ overall increased payment option acceptance reflects a larger push to meet customer demand — and minimizes the risk of losing them to other providers. Indeed, 92% of healthcare companies not currently investing in real-time payments plan to in the future.

Real-time payment acceptance is part of a wave of payment innovations the healthcare sector has been welcoming as consumers seek a more streamlined experience. With 18% of surveyed U.S. consumers having difficulty understanding their medical bills and another 21% citing difficulty navigating the billing process, increased payments options may simply make sense.

As healthcare bills don’t seem to be simplifying anytime soon, reducing as many other pain points along the customer payment experience as possible can perhaps cut down on avoidable friction. Making options such as real-time payments accessible to patients is simply one small part of that overall progress.