Ensuring patient payments are safe is essential in healthcare, but that doesn’t mean sacrificing valuable payment methods that appeal to your customers’ needs. Whether you want to implement contactless payments, link your payment processing to your electronic health record (EHR), or accept Text-to-Pay, our flexible solutions make it possible.
From regulatory compliance to customer confidence, Rectangle Health can help you bring secure billing solutions to your practice.
Get Paid Faster
Expanding your patients’ options can go a long way if you want to get your payments promptly. When patients have more choices and chances to submit payments, it’s easier for them to pay.
Consider a patient who is committed to contactless payments. They may make their payment online to avoid touching a payment terminal in the office. Then, a few weeks go by, and they forget to pay. Maybe it’s incredibly inconvenient because they need to link up a checking account or use a unique code from their paper billing statement. Whatever the reason, it takes much longer for the patient to complete payment, if they remember at all — a situation that could be avoided with a practice’s ability to accept contactless payments.
Another essential part of that equation is payment reminders. Sending texts and notifications keeps bill payments top-of-mind for your patients without excessive contact from staff.
From a back-end perspective, other features can speed up payments, such as automatic posting to a patient ledger and digital registration forms. Automatic posting keeps patient costs linked to your practice management system to save time on manual entry, while digital registration forms save time for the patient and your staff by simplifying the check-in process. Patients can complete their paperwork before their appointment, improve data accuracy through direct digital input, and contribute to a contactless check-in process without clunky clipboards.
Online and Mobile Payment Methods
Digital payment options can increase the speed of the patient payment journey while adding to their satisfaction. They can use technology-enabled offerings like digital wallets and tap-to-pay cards from just about everywhere else, from the grocery store to the gas station, so why shouldn’t they do the same in their doctor’s office? Fortunately, adding these capabilities can still provide Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant payment processing.
Some options that patients like to see include:
- Mobile wallets: These near-field communication (NFC) payments utilize the user’s phone to transmit their payment information to the terminal for a fully contactless solution. They’re fast, simple, and quickly gaining popularity.
- Touch-to-pay cards: A similar contactless payment is a touch-to-pay card, with which the customer simply taps their compatible card on or near the reader to pay.
- Chip and magstripe: According to the Secure Technology Alliance (2021), the chip you’ll find on most cards nowadays is more secure than the classic magnetic strip, a sizable benefit when working with protected health information (PHI). In some cases, chips can also be combined with PINs or signatures. A PYMNTS study (2021) shows that most consumers pay their bills with cards. With 37% using credit cards and 31% using debit cards, secure payments are essential.
- Text-to-Pay: Our Text-to-Pay system adds convenience and simplicity, sending a secure link to a patient’s phone for easy payments from the mobile device.
- Online payments: Online payments allow patients to pay at their convenience without making time for a phone call. Our safe online payment processing platform can accept major payment methods like credit cards and electronic checks. Add the payment gateway to your website for easy access and sharable links for email, print, and text distribution.
In addition to these newer payment methods, you’ll also want to accept other payment types, including credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, checks, and the Automated Clearing House (ACH).
Seamless User Experience for Billing and Paying
A comprehensive and connected platform helps your patients enjoy the ease of use and a smooth experience overall. As more and more providers upgrade their technology, modern tools are necessary to provide a competitive patient experience. The PYMNTS study also tells us what patients want from their healthcare providers, with millennials and younger patients expressing an exceptionally high interest in digital tools. These include:
- Reviewing medical histories digitally (64%)
- Filling out medical forms digitally (60%)
- Communicating with healthcare providers securely (65%)
- Receiving payment notifications (60%)
Rectangle Health offers all the modern features patients look for in their healthcare experiences. Our card-on-file (CoF) options allow you to retain payment information HIPAA-compliantly. Patients can pay their bills more efficiently and make automatic monthly payments with a flexible payment plan. This enticing option can be the difference between patients receiving care and putting it off.
We’ve discussed the importance of offering multiple payment options, but it’s also essential that these payments work smoothly with your existing practice management systems. They should reduce manual data entry requirements and link up with patient information for straightforward use. Contactless and recurring payments work seamlessly with your EHR, and features like billing reminders can improve the likelihood and timeliness of payments, all while minimizing the work required from your team.
Protect Patient Information with Secure Billing
As you know, security is paramount to healthcare environments. Payments can be considered PHI since they can be traced back to the patient. If that information is stolen or a breach occurs, you could be facing violations from HIPAA and a reduction in trust from your patients, who could be at risk of identity theft and other outcomes. With that in mind, electronic payment security must be a strong concern.
Rectangle Health takes a robust and comprehensive approach to security, with systems in place to protect your practice from point-of-sale tampering, decrypted data, viruses, and malware. We utilize security features like address verification and fraud monitoring to keep you and your patients protected.
We’re also an official Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) solution provider, as recognized by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC). This recognition means we encrypt payment data from the second it goes through the POS terminal until it reaches the payment processor. It protects the data from being accessed while on your system, where it could potentially be exposed to malware and unauthorized access. P2PE allows us to reduce the time and work required for your practice to meet PCI compliance.
Rectangle Health prioritizes data security and complies with HIPAA and PCI regulations, as well as Europay, MasterCard®, and Visa® (EMV) card standards. We protect your data, so you can rest easy knowing you can bill patients conveniently and efficiently without putting their sensitive information at risk.
Interfaces with any practice management system
If you want your payment system to be seamless and reduce data entry requirements for you and your team, it must interface with your practice management system. Rectangle Health’s flagship product, Practice Management Bridge®, allows you to securely settle patient payments while working with your existing management programs.
Rectangle Health Keeps Your Billing Secure
As an all-in-one solution with security, flexibility, and seamless functionality built-in, Rectangle Health’s Practice Management Bridge® is the go-to option for safe payment processing. We have been developing innovative payment technology in the healthcare industry for almost 30 years.
Resources
- Secure Technology Alliance. (2021, October 6). Benefits of smart cards versus magnetic stripe cards for healthcare applications. Retrieved from https://www.securetechalliance.org/publications-benefits-of-smart-cards-versus-magnetic-stripe-cards-for-healthcare-applications/.
- Rectangle Health. (2021, August 4). What Consumers Want From Their Healthcare Customer Experiences. Retrieved from https://www.rectanglehealth.com/whitepapers/connected-healthcare-report/.
