Consumer Health Technologies and TSYS Healthcare have announced an agreement that "extends streamlined payment solutions to consumers, enabling easier, more convenient and cost effective healthcare purchases. TSYS Healthcare’s payment card solution offers end-to-end functionality with greater automation, refined reporting and smoother reconciliation capabilities, resulting in minimal error rates. The TSYS Healthcare system will be integrated into BenefitSpan™, CHT’s award-winning total benefit administration platform for managing HRA, FSA and HSA accounts." READ MORE

Metavante has announced that it has been selected by Sterling HSA to be its exclusive provider of benefit debit card and healthcare payment technology. Sterling HSA is an independent, privately held company offering health savings account administration services to employers and individuals nationwide. READ MORE

MasterCard has announced a multi-year contract extension with OptumHealth Inc.'s OptumHealth Bank to issue MasterCard cards for health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), including the accounts they manage for UnitedHealthcare members. The OptumHealth MasterCard cards can be used as a form of payment, tied to these tax-advantaged accounts, for eligible medical expenses, such as copayments, deductibles, prescriptions, vision care and certain over-the-counter items. READ MORE

Metavante has announced the availability of its redesigned HSA solution that has been "reengineered to reflect the findings of Metavante-sponsored research detailing what consumers look for when researching and using HSAs."

Diamond Management & Technology Consultants has announced results of a new report titled "Seismic Shifts in the Health/Wealth Landscape" that concludes that "the demand from consumers and employers for a better health/wealth experience -- from saving and paying for healthcare to making informed choices about treatment alternatives -- is creating $40 billion in new revenue opportunities for financial services firms and healthcare companies over the next five years.

Mercator Advisory Group has released a new report titled "HSA Growth Accelerates In Uncharted Waters" that discusses the significant investments being made to implement Prepaid HSA cards that will provide significant benefits to cardholders and Third Party Administrators.

Evolution Benefits and The Bancorp Bank have announced an agreement to "provide an integrated solution combining The Bancorp Bank’s health savings accounts and EB’s prepaid benefits card known as Benny to support advanced consumer-directed healthcare programs. The companies’ integrated product will be available in early June."

Ecount has introduced a suite of prepaid health care incentives that "provides insurers, employers and plan managers with a highly effective solution for encouraging healthy living."

Evolution Benefits has announced that is has been granted a patent for its technology used in the substantiation of health benefits debit card transactions. The company’s patent, U.S. Patent 7,174,302 titled “System and Method for Processing Flexible Spending Account Transactions,” refers to the system and method EB developed for real time substantiation of card transactions prior to authorizing payment.

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association has announced approval by the Office of Thrift Supervision of its application for a Federal Savings Bank charter for the Blue Healthcare Bank. The charter allows the Blue Healthcare Bank to provide healthcare-related banking services in all 50 states. The bank is located in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City.

BB&T Corporation has announced the selection of Evolution Benefits to provide card services for its Health Savings Account product.

Ann Carrns reports for the Wall St. Journal that nearly 1,100 banks now offer health savings accounts, "more than triple the number at the end of 2005." Carrns also reports that Bank of America is planning to introduce "a new credit card, in partnership with major health plans, that will let holders earn rewards points that convert automatically into cash in their HSAs."

Javelin Strategy & Research has published a new report concluding that "Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) represent a paradox for banking and payment leaders: Banks cannot overlook the long-term opportunities for asset growth, yet must plan to address problematic consumer awareness and interest along with other thorny healthcare industry issues."

Finpago has announced the availability of the FSAok Debit Substantiation service including Finpago’s FSAok Real-Time Eligibility Engine. According to the company, these services provide "the industry’s most comprehensive set of tools for generating and documenting consumer driven health care claims automatically and ensuring IRS compliance for the widest possible number of merchant categories. Through WageWorks' Health Care Choice card program, the services provide flexibility and convenience to flexible spending account account holders by automatically selecting prescription and over-the-counter medication purchases and submitting them for reimbursement."

From a press release by HealthLeaders-InterStudy: "How futuristic is it to believe that one swipe of a debit card would reveal your identity, your health record, and your health plan coverage and eligibility information? Not as far off as you think."

Visa USA has announced that it "will be the first organization to adopt a new industry standard list designed to clearly identify items sold over the counter that qualify as an eligible medical expense for health benefit accounts. The comprehensive list, developed by the Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA), will be available to merchants who have implemented Visa’s patent-pending auto-substantiation enhancement, which allows for real-time substantiation of qualified, medical expense purchases made with a Visa employee benefit debit card."

Vimo.com, a healthcare comparison-shopping site, has published a research report that "reveals wide disparity amongst the fees that HSA Banks charge their customers" with little correlation between high fees and high returns in HSAs. The current Vimo Rankings Report is available for download.

Finpago and WageWorks have announced the FSAok AnyCard that automatically selects prescription and over-the-counter medication purchases at participating merchants and submits them for reimbursement when paid for with a card registered to participate in the program.

The HealthPay Group based in San Francisco has announced its formation saying that it intends to "focus on the convergence of the healthcare and financial services industries that has been triggered by the rapid expansion of consumer directed healthcare accounts and the popularity of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)."

The August 2006 edition of the First Annapolis Navigator is now available. This month's issue features an article on health care and payments, a snapshot of Target's credit business, how to think like a major retailer about self-acquiring, exploring the relationship between risk and losses in US acquirers, and a summary of second quarter 2006 US card issuer performance.

Lighthouse1, a provider of consumer driven healthcare administration solutions, has announced an agreement with First Data Healthcare Services to deliver a debit card and transaction processing services for subscribers using Lighthouse1's healthcare programs. First Data will provide healthcare card services, including a transaction card processing solution for members to access their fund contributions at the point of care. UMB Healthcare Services will work with First Data to support debit card access, investment programs and transaction processing.

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services has announced results of a recent survey of financial organizations in which eighty percent of financial organizations responding said their organization currently offers Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) or plans to do so in the next year.

Aite Group has announced new research titled "Health Savings Accounts: A Bounty for Banks?" that forecasts that "large and specialty banks will be the winners in the health savings account (HSA) market as they will see significant growth in the numbers of HSAs they provide." Aite forecasts that by 2010, large banks will likely support 40% of HSAs (up from 20% in 2006), and specialty banks will support 35% of HSAs (up from 30% in 2006).

UnitedHealth Group has announced that it introducing new technology health benefit cards that simplify how consumers manage and pay for their health care and that will provide the information needed to promptly administer benefits and facilitate health transactions and payments. "The card will also convey essential health records that support care interventions. From a consumer perspective, these services transcend benefit plan boundaries and traditional geographic limits, enabling people to have their information and financial resources follow them across products or across the country."

MasterCard Worldwide has announced that it is introducing a new system enhancement and service designed to increase the use of Flexible Spending Accounts and other medical reimbursement plans by enabling third-party administrators to substantiate purchases in real time using item-level data collected at the point-of-sale. MasterCard says that the service, which has a patent pending, is the first offering of its kind and provides a more streamlined solution for benefit administrators and merchants.

HSA Bank has announced that its accountholders' average balances have increased by more than $350 to nearly $1,940 during the first six months of 2006. HSA Bank attributes the increase in balances to both a greater number of accountholders saving their HSA funds and an increased level of contributions to individual accounts.

Canopy Financial has announced HealthScore, a new credit score intended to be used specifically for predicting and managing the unique risks associated with lending to consumers with high-deductible health plans.

Metavante has announced it is partnering with Longs Drugs to provide automated, electronic substantiation of over-the-counter flexible spending account (FSA)-eligible purchases for customers using Metavante's MBI Benefits Card.

PayFlex Systems USA has selected and completed integration with First Data Healthcare Services. First Data will serve as PayFlex's provider of processing services for its suite of healthcare accounts.

Metavante has announced that its healthcare benefit debit card, the MBI Benefits Card, is the first and only card and authorization system in the payments industry to authorize healthcare purchases against a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) maximum in real time at the individual and family level.