PHILADELPHIA – Using a credit card scanner in a hospital is great for buying flowers from the gift shop or lunch in the cafeteria, but it isn’t as easy when used to pay bills.
InstaMed, a Philadelphia-based provider of healthcare payment services, is looking to take that process to the cloud with its Patient Payment Solution. The Web-based payment estimator, launched roughly four years ago, has been slowly gaining traction in hospitals and physician offices as patients take a more active approach to paying their bills.
“Hospitals are looking for a better way to collect from patients at the point of care, because once that patient walks out the door, they may never get paid,” said Jeff Lin, the company’s vice president. “And patients are asking for more options. They want to be empowered to manage their own healthcare.”
Lin said InstaMed allows both patients and providers to work off the same platform, gathering data on deductibles and co-pays to render of more complete bill. The service verifies insurance eligibility, estimates charges, collects amounts due and sets up payment plans.
Lin said many providers need help transitioning to a payment platform, having relied on outsourced billing agencies or payers to handle the task in the past.
“We’re looking to replace the existing credit card terminal that you might find in a physician’s office or a hospital with a Web-based solution,” said Bill Marvin, InstaMed’s CEO. “We’re kind of like PayPal for the healthcare industry.”
The company recently bolstered its platform through a partnership with Wells Fargo & Company, whose Healthcare Financial Services division is one of the largest resources for not-for-profit healthcare providers. Wells Fargo is now offering InstaMed’s PPS product to its healthcare providers.
“Wells Fargo PPS enables healthcare providers to check patients’ benefit coverage and responsibility, arrange for payments and collect them efficiently,” said Keith Theisen, executive vice president and director of product management for Wells Fargo’s Treasury Management Group. “The result is a dramatic increase in patient collections and a reduction in the administrative costs of collecting.”
According to Marvin, the increase in patient self-pay plans brings with it an increase in misinformation, mistakes and misdirected queries. An average refund costs $23 to process, he said, making it imperative that healthcare providers prepare a proper bill the first time around.
“At the end of the day,” said Marvin, “customers want money in a bank account, not just a claim scrubbed.”