KANSAS CITY, MO – The Cerner Corp. is changing the landscape of organizations that provide healthcare payment cards as it expands its health plan ID and payment card outside its enterprise.
While such cards were initially the domain of health plans, Cerner, a healthcare IT company, is working with early adopt employers to deploy its integrated claims administration services and software technology.
“Cerner believes that the current system for payment of healthcare services is inefficient and wrought with unnecessary costs,” said Kim Hlobik, vice president of Cerner’s Healthe Exchange.
“By entering the administration side, we can better understand the process to ‘pay a claim’ – and now can work to redesign and improve it,” she said.
Cerner is working with First Data Health Healthcare Services to provide healthcare payment card processing services for the company’s healthcare flexible spending account, health reimbursement arrangement and health savings account benefit plan offerings.
“First Data recognizes that meaningful improvement of the current healthcare payment system calls for collaboration with industry leaders, such as Cerner,” said Robyn Bartlett-Andersen, general manager.
She said the combined ID and payment card will simplify and improve member experience and enable providers to be paid in a more efficient, timely manner.
“It ensures that members with high-deductible health plans have a mechanism for paying the provider what is owed at the point of care while streamlining the lengthy and costly billing process that occurs after the patient leaves the provider’s office,” she said.
Cerner has tapped UMB Healthcare Services to be the financial custodian that supports debit card access and HSA services.
Dennis Triplett, president of UMB Healthcare Services, said it’s critical for clinical and financial IT systems to work together to achieve payment and reimbursement efficiencies.
He said it makes sense for partnerships to be formed to explore different solutions for simplifying the healthcare payment system.
“It (the Cerner card) also helps to support the consumerism aspect that is the goal of many plan designs out there today,” Hlobik said. “Cerner wants to empower its associates to control their healthcare dollars and healthcare process.”