Merchant Accounts for the Health Care Industry
The health care industry is extremely diverse and covers many different specialties under its umbrella. SecureGlobalPay has a great deal of experience in establishing merchant accounts that work best for those in the health care industry. We can also help you find a solution that will provide seamless integration with your current systems.
We have worked with all kinds of Health Care specialists, including dental, orthodontics, vision care, veterinary medicine, emergency medicine, pathology, radiology, obstetrics and cardiology, as well as general practitioners.
Examples of Health Care Industry Specialists We Have Worked with to Set Up Merchant Accounts
Hospitals
Medical Offices
Healthcare Industry Billing Offices
Doctors – General Practitioners
Doctors – Specialists (i.e. Surgeons, Obstetrics, Pediatrics)
Physical Therapists
Dermatologists
Chiropractors
Medical Clinics and Spas
Veterinary Hospitals
Emergency Rooms
Urgent Care
Hospice Care
Medical Spa’s
Rehabilitation Centers
Pharmacies
Benefits of a Merchant Account for the Health Care Industry
When you can provide a variety of payment options to your patients, it can work for you by increasing your cash flow and ensuring that you are paid for services rendered. We have helped customize many different options in order to meet the diverse needs of those within the healthcare industry. These options may include:
Recurring Billing
Medical bills can oftentimes come at a very high cost. Providing the ability for patients to pay via a schedule helps put consistent money in your pocket. There are typically fewer payments missed because a recurring payment plan helps patients manage smaller payments that fit their budget.
The patient also benefits with a recurring payment plan as it is convenient and they don’t have to worry about late fees as the money comes directly out of their bank. With a recurring payment plan, you can let customers pay weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.
Process Checks
While many consumers have moved to debit or credit cards to pay medical fees, there is still a large amount of healthcare patients who use checks to pay their bills. We can help you accept checks electronically and receive funding in real time.
When your office receives a check you will either need to input information found on the check into the merchant payment site or swipe it through a check reader. The transaction is sent to the payment gateway for processing and will receive either an acceptance or denial. When the information on the check is input into the system, you can then destroy the check.
Accepting Credit Cards Via Mail or Phone
It isn’t uncommon for those in the health care industry to receive payments through the phone or via the mail. We can help make sure this option is available to your office. The process of accepting credit cards through the mail or via the phone is done by keying in credit card information manually via a user friendly terminal. We can also provide an online interface where information can be recorded for payment processing.
Online Payment Portal for Customers
We can help provide the option for your customers to pay their bill from the comfort of their home through an online payment portal.
Processing Off-Site
Often times you will find yourself visiting the patient at a location that is not at your office. We can make your phone or tablet into a virtual terminal and even add a card reader that can securely collect credit card information when you are off-site.
All of the options listed above come with the ability to accept all major credit cards including Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover Card.
PCI Compliance vs. HIPAA
We understand that any good merchant account provider should be well versed in HIPAA policy and regulation. HIPAA is the procedure that all members of the healthcare industry must follow to keep the medical records of patients safe and secure. It lists specific protocol that must be followed when it comes to managing and maintaining health records. If a merchant account provider has access to any patient information, then they are considered a “Business Associate”. This means they are just as liable and must protect and know all HIPAA regulations and requirements.
PCI compliance has a goal similar to HIPAA, to protect customer credit card date. PCI Compliance regulations apply to all companies that process credit cards, transmit credit card data or store credit card data. HIPAA is regulated by the Health and Human Services Department. PCI compliant standards are set by the Payment Security Standards Council.
If you are not HIPAA compliant then you are breaking federal law. You will receive heavy fines and have the possibility of jail time. While HIPAA is heavily regulated through audits, there is a similar department that assists with the auditing of merchants for PCI compliance. If you are found out of compliance, your bank or processor will most likely start charging you a non compliance fee until you prove that you have filled out the questionnaire and ran the scanning software through your POS System or Website.
How to Protect Yourself from Fraud Prevention
The healthcare industry can be a highly emotional industry. Many patients are facing fears of the unknown. Patients sometimes receive large bills that can be overwhelming to pay. Unfortunately, this can lead to a higher incidence of fraud from those that are unsure how to pay their bill. We can help protect against fraud protection by offering some of the benefits below including:
Helping you to identify and manage transactions in a way that can help prevent against suspicious and potentially fraudulent transactions being processed.
We make use of the Address Verification Service (AVS) to verify that the card holder address matches the patients address.
We also provide for the use of the Card Code Verification (CVV2) found on the back of the card.
Secure Global Pay is well-versed in the specific processing needs of the Health Industry.
