Social Distancing Tips for Patient Payments

In recent years, the healthcare industry has been turning to technology and processes that remove the complexities for consumers to make healthcare payments. Many of these technologies also make it easier to implement social distancing – by reducing the dependence on physical credit cards, payment terminals and paper itself.  

Here are a few examples of using technology to minimize contact and the spread of germs. 

Online and Self-Service Payment Solutions 

There are many benefits to offering an online option to accept patient payments, such as reduced administrative costs, faster time to payment and a better patient experience. But, did you know it can also offer a safer, more sanitary way to collect? Online portals let patients make healthcare payments without visiting a location or handing over a credit card or cash to staff. Online payments are completely self-service, which is a good option if staff are working from home or have been reallocated to other areas.  

Here’s a Tip: If you don’t already have an online payment portal, patients can visit pay.instamed.com to pay any healthcare bill.  

Contactless and Automated Payments 

For in-person payments, minimize the spread of germs with contactless options such as contactless EMV, Apple Pay^®, or Google Pay™. These options allow patients to make a payment without entering their pin on the keypad or touching the terminal.  

Similarly, if a patient’s credit card is already saved on file with your organization, you can collect payment without handling the physical card. When it is time to collect payment, simply pull up the patient’s payment information in your system and apply the payment to the card saved on file. You can read more about tips for rolling out a save-on-file program at your organization in our Collection Best Practices Guide.  

Here’s a Tip: Don’t let security and compliance concerns scare you away from contactless and automated payment options. Payment technologies inherent in these options, like point-to-point encryption, digital wallets, EMV and Apple Pay, offer advanced levels of security that protect payment information and help reduce PCI scope. 

eStatements 

You can eliminate paper from the payments process by using eStatements to deliver healthcare bills. eStatements let patients access their bills online and make a payment without receiving a paper bill in the mail, and without having to mail back a paper check. Payments can be collected faster with less time and effort from billing staff. eStatements are another great option when staff are working from home or reallocated to other areas.  

Here’s a Tip: How do you drive eStatement adoption with your patients? The case study highlighted below demonstrates the steps one organization took to get the word out to patients about a new billing option.