The value of the global healthcare sector is currently over $12 trillion, and with the pandemic hit of COVID-19, these figures are expected to increase significantly. With the advancement of technology, doctors and other medical professionals can now consult with and observe patients virtually. Payment processing is complicated in this industry. And therefore you will require one of the best healthcare merchant accounts.
The healthcare/medical industry’s payment processing is frequently complicated. Your healthcare business needs a medical merchant account that is specifically designed for your company, given how the internet is developing and how technology is enabling new methods to pay for services.
Credit card processors and acquiring banks frequently view businesses in the healthcare sector as high-risk. For many healthcare-related firms, it can be very challenging to find trustworthy payment processing. Healthcare businesses’ merchant account requirements are quite special in many ways. To take credit card payments in person, online, and over the phone, healthcare providers will need a trustworthy method.
Modern practices must accept healthcare payments, and this necessitates the use of a HIPAA-compliant payment processing solution in addition to the normal technology and software. The ideal merchant services provider can set you up with credit card processing as well as strong payment security, clever software integrations, and customer-facing communications that are in line with your brand.
Although other industries also have data breaches, the healthcare sector is particularly vulnerable. Incredibly private and sensitive documents could be discovered if malware or successful cyberattacks target the healthcare sector, which would be extremely troublesome for any company.
Processing Benefits for Healthcare Payment
Partnering with Electronic Merchant Systems ensures that you receive secure credit card payment processing whether you’re a chiropractor, paediatrician, or podiatrist. And when it comes to security one needs to choose one out of the top and best healthcare merchant accounts.
At Electronic Merchant Systems, we are aware that several requirements about PHI, or protected health information, must be complied with by healthcare companies. Utilizing insecure point-of-sale systems will endanger patient data and put your firm at risk in light of these standards. The best healthcare merchant accounts make your healthcare payment processing simple, secure, and safe while protecting the private information of your patients.
Benefits of using the best healthcare merchant accounts
Defense from fraud
Avoiding the risk of fraud or theft by using credit or debit cards instead of cash or checks. Healthcare payment processors employ Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES), a data encryption technique that employs three keys as opposed to one. This type of transaction security is quite safe.
Additionally, you want a medical payment processing solution that provides both openness and high-calibre support. It’s crucial to have security measures in place to protect patient information. Most small medical organizations cannot afford to file a lawsuit over a data breach. Choosing a provider who adheres to industry trends and standards is a wonderful approach to guarantee that your company is completely compliant. To offer our healthcare partners the best possible service, BillingTree is proud to stay up to date on HIPAA compliance.
A Wide range of Payment Systems
When patients have a wide variety of payment alternatives, medical practices gain. It benefits everyone when people can pay their medical costs with credit or debit cards. However, other payment options are also becoming more and more common. Patients might like paying using a mobile wallet like Apple Pay or Google Pay. Some people might desire to plan ACH payments. Many consumers prefer that their physicians maintain their credit cards on file for recurrent payments. They will be able to swiftly and simply pay any co-pays in this method.
Simple Budgeting
Payments made with a credit card leave a digital trail, making them simple to record and track. Without additional action from the billing department, this can happen automatically. To record payments and update patient files, the finest healthcare credit card payment software is simple to interface with QuickBooks or other accounting software.
Provide the care that patients need
When a patient is in extreme need, thinking about how to pay for medical care is the last thing on their mind. Your customers will value your efforts to make the payment procedure as simple as possible for them while making sure your company doesn’t expend needless resources on it. Specially created POS terminals are user-friendly, adaptable, and practical. It offers speedy, secure transactions, and its products are ideal for companies in the healthcare sector.
Flexibility
Healthcare concerns change daily; shouldn’t your payment processing technologies follow suit? To give your patients the freedom to pay whenever, wherever, and with any device, you need software that enables you to integrate in a variety of ways.
You require ways to pay for Credit, debit/only debit, ACH, online, by phone, text, and at the point of sale (In Your Office). Your patients’ preferred payment options open up a whole new world of ease when you let them pay. Maintaining their satisfaction can help your company develop more enduring ties.
Consider this. Which option—waiting a month for your bill to arrive in the mail or paying a payment with a single text—do you prefer? Naturally, you and the patient want to be able to pay and be reimbursed quickly and efficiently.
Possibilities for Progress
In short, you require a method for processing payments as rapidly as feasible. Time truly is money, as the saying goes. You have more time to concentrate on your business because you have to deal with less paperwork and patient difficulties.
Making the patient experience quicker and simpler is something your rivals are doing; you should follow suit! You may give your patients peace of mind by offering quick turnaround times in the billing process and more sophisticated payment options.
By establishing regular and recurring payments, you are also decreasing the number of human processes. This relieves you of having to handle these accounts yourself. You have countless options to cut costs and increase revenue thanks to all of these techniques.
Takeaways
The healthcare industry is stressful. You are in charge of another living thing’s health. If you don’t need to increase that tension, why do it? The management of everyday business operations is made easier with the aid of medical payment processing, allowing you to return the attention to patient health. You are endangering the data of your patients if your processing system is out-of-date. The nature of healthcare ties together two sensitive types of data: financial and medical. You require a system that can securely handle transaction processing and data storage.
Choosing The Best Payment Processor For Healthcare
It’s not simple to select the best payment processing system for the healthcare industry. When it comes to finding the best healthcare merchant accounts there are numerous factors to take into account when picking a supplier, regardless of whether your company is established or just getting off the ground.
Priority should be given to selecting a provider with experience in the medical sector and expertise in high-risk processing. You must avoid using a low-risk processor because otherwise your merchant account can be closed. Our preferred healthcare credit card processing companies give complete HIPAA compliance, reasonable pricing, open sales practices, and top-notch customer support.
Each business will have its areas of expertise, and these providers can provide on-site payment options as well as e-commerce processing for healthcare providers. We advise you to get quotations from a couple of these companies and compare them to get the most affordable and comprehensive package for your clinic.
PaymentCloud
PaymentCloud is a merchant account service with a base in Woodland Hills, California, that focuses on working with standard to high-risk company models. Although the majority of healthcare providers fit into the low-risk category, the developing field of telemedicine is still seen by most credit card processors as a high-risk industry. An online payment gateway for telemedicine portals, choices for invoicing, and services for eCheck and ACH payments are all part of PaymentCloud’s service offering.
Even though the business keeps pricing and contract details confidential, users highly regard it for its reasonable price and terms. Considering that PaymentCloud doesn’t impose any application or account setup fees, it is worthwhile to investigate what it may do for you.
Key benefit:
- No setup fees for applications or accounts
- Billing every month (low-risk practices)
- free credit card terminal available
- accessible virtual terminal
Host Merchant Services
Out of all the top 10 and best healthcare merchant accounts that our experts found, HMS or Host Merchant Services is one of the most preferred accounts. It is reflected in the top 10 of all types of merchant accounts.
Hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare institutions might benefit from having a merchant account with Host Merchant Services, a company with headquarters in Newark, Delaware. Point-of-sale solutions, web hosting, business-class email, an online payment gateway and virtual terminal, and mobile credit card processing are among the company’s goods and services. Healthcare firms that depend on a strong online presence can turn to Host Merchant Services for e-commerce solutions.
All accounts include interchange-plus pricing, monthly payment, and free basic website hosting. For taking payments in person, there are numerous mobile card readers, terminals, and POS systems available. The company’s website makes it simple to estimate your processing expenses in advance because it completely discloses all processing rates and account fees. This openness makes it easier to set up an account because you won’t need to negotiate with a salesperson about the particulars of the contract or the rates and fees involved.
Users have a very positive opinion of Host, and they particularly praise them for their top-notch customer service. You should go with it for your medical practice.
Key benefit:
- Price transparency for interchange plus
- no startup expenses, no application fees
- No long-term commitments and month-to-month billing
- zero monthly thresholds
Helcim
Helcim is only HIPAA compliant in the sense that its credit card processing services are exempt from HIPAA requirements, unlike our other top picks for healthcare credit card processing, which do not provide business associate agreements (BAAs) to safeguard PHI.
The business explicitly notes on its website that “Healthcare practitioners should not utilize Helm’s merchant services to retain health records, such as by inserting medical procedure details in invoice line items or transaction comments.”
What makes you want to utilize Helcim, then? The company provides full-service merchant accounts without long-term commitments, monthly fees, or hidden interchange costs, which is the answer. It’s one of the least expensive solutions out there for a business that only occasionally accepts credit or debit card payments but wants to avoid the account solidity problems that affect Square and other payment service providers (PSPs).
Helcim can significantly reduce your overall credit card processing costs, provided you’re prepared to partition off your patient records from your credit card processing.
The company’s exclusive Helcim Card Reader can be used as a conventional countertop terminal or in conjunction with the POS software or mobile app. Helcim has a solid reputation for offering first-rate customer service and detailed pricing disclosures on its website. It’s a wise decision for a modest operation that doesn’t require numerous elaborate bells and whistles.
Key benefit:
- No long-term agreements or penalties for ending a contract early
- Interchange-plus pricing is used
- Without a monthly account charge
- fantastic customer service
Square
One of our preferred payment processors is Square, and the response to the query “Is Square HIPAA compliant?” is unambiguously positive. There is no monthly cost and transparent payment processing, and it offers a variety of functions. Excellent security, reporting, invoicing, patient profiles, and other features are all free with the Square POS.
Additionally, you can choose to add more functionality by going paperless and automating both the intake and payment processes using healthcare-focused data connection alternatives like IntakeQ.
Although Square can be a fantastic option for medical clinics, it is not for everyone. A third-party payment processor called Square groups all of its users into a single account rather than creating separate merchant accounts for each of them. Nearly anyone can use this configuration to process payments, however, it has some account stability problems.
Key benefit:
- Cost-effective flat rates
- Monthly billing with no early termination penalty
- No monthly charges
- Integrations with healthcare services
Dharma Merchant Services
For medical or wellness establishments, Dharma is an excellent choice for credit card processing. Dharma offers fair interchange-plus pricing, no yearly fees, and no minimum monthly payments. They also constantly provide top-notch service.
Additionally, you’ll have access to the whole line of Clover hardware, and the numerous payment options available make processing in-person and over the phone for your office quick and secure.
While there are monthly fees and a separate monthly price for sending invoices, Dharma’s pricing is quite clear, so there won’t be any unpleasant surprises when your bill arrives. Additionally, you won’t need to be concerned about lease agreements, early termination fees, or binding obligations.
For healthcare providers, Dharma offers full-service merchant accounts that are HIPAA compliant with a simple processing charge of interchange + 0.15% + $0.08 per transaction. The business’s MX Merchant integrated payments technology lets you utilize keeping payment details from both in-person and online transactions in one simple location.
Key benefit:
- Price transparency for interchange plus
- dependable business procedures
- Discounted rates for charities
- many software choices
Chase Payment Solutions
Chase Payment Solutions, in contrast to our other top options, is a direct processor. The business offers credit card terminals, a custom payment gateway, a virtual terminal, and several other services, as well as flat-rate or interchange-plus pricing plans. Chase provides healthcare practitioners with patient billing administration and scheduling tools, as well as processing that complies with HIPAA regulations. InstaMed is also integrated for online patient payments.
Chase often provides short-term, month-to-month contracts with no early termination penalties (ETFs). However, if you accept a free credit card terminal as part of your merchant account, you’ll often have to accept a three-year contract (with an ETF). To take advantage of the flexibility that a month-to-month contract offers, we advise purchasing your processing equipment altogether.
Key benefit:
- trustworthy straight processor
- offers interchange-plus or flat-rate payment alternatives.
- Funding the following business day for QuickAccept clients
- Medical practices can take advantage of special features.
CDG Commerce
A merchant account provider named CDG Commerce may offer payment processing for physical, mobile, and internet medical offices. A free payment gateway, bespoke reporting, QuickBooks connection, AVS, automated fraud warnings, and chargeback notifications are among the goods offered by Chesapeake, Virginia-based CDG Commerce. Since 1998, the business has been offering merchant services, during which time it has gathered a large number of reputable testimonials.
While CDG Commerce provides its merchants month-to-month contracts with no early termination fees, rate quotations will vary based on each merchant’s business type and past processing activity.
National Processing
National Processing provides a variety of small business processing alternatives and may help medical practices choose the best virtual terminal or point-of-sale system for their requirements. The company has two pricing alternatives, both of which have competitive rates: an interchange-plus program and a “zero-fee” program.
National Processing has a good reputation, and the one complaint it has received in the last three years is unimportant. According to our unbiased evaluation, National Processing is a good choice for the majority of hospitals and healthcare facilities.
Shopify
Although the company’s main product is an e-commerce platform for online retailers, Shopify also provides point-of-sale software for iPad and iPhone users. The Shopify POS software has capabilities including inventory syncing with a web store, emailed receipts, automatic tax calculations, simple email marketing, and in-store refunds. It can process payments via a headphone jack card swiper or a $129 EMV reader. Customers in the healthcare industry will benefit greatly from these online payment choices and the recognizability of the Shopify brand since they will feel secure and at ease utilizing the service.
