DataPath, based in Little Rock, Ark., and Atlanta-based RelayHealth have formed a "strategic relationship" to establish a connectivity service designed to streamline the payment cycle and data exchange needed to expedite consumer payments for health services.
Targeted services range from consumer-driven healthcare (CDH) accounts such as flexible spending accounts (FSAs) to health savings accounts (HSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs).
"The common scenario in healthcare services is to collect payment now and adjust later, or worse yet, to not collect now and end up with uncompensated care," said Jeff Hancock, director of product management for RelayHealth. "With this solution, providers get paid on self-pay balances from funds the consumer has saved for this very purpose. It's no longer necessary to create another bill that might not get paid for weeks, if at all."
The new service is projected for delivery later this year and will allow health plan service providers to connect with CDH accounts. Providers will be able to obtain real-time eligibility verification of an employee's healthcare account and then use the account as a secondary benefit payment method. This reduces out-of-pocket expenses from the patient at the time of service and decreases the number of self-pay statements generated later by the healthcare provider.
"One of the stakeholders in the CDH movement often neglected is the healthcare provider," said John Robbins Jr., vice president and director of health care payment solutions for DataPath. "As employee responsibility increases, provider receivables also increase. The new services we'll be offering using RelayHealth's connectivity to healthcare providers and retail pharmacies eliminates this concern and best of all, it doesn't require the provider to change their existing practice management system, point of sale device or any other system. Now they will automatically receive payment."