Fifth Third Processing Solutions has announced that it has entered into an agreement to provide a patient payment system from mPay Gateway to its physician practice customers. According to the company, "mPay Gateway's software solution enables health care providers to calculate the patient's share of a bill for service and obtain payment authorization before a patient leaves the office, eliminating billing hassles and reducing bad debt by up to 50 percent. The patient is actually charged only after the health care provider settles with the insurance company." READ MORE

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

InComm and WiredBenefits have announced an agreement to develop and market a suite of prepaid healthcare cards through InComm’s network of partner retailers. According to the companies, "aligning WiredBenefits’ Healthcare Platform with InComm’s 145,000 store retail network creates a healthcare delivery method a prepaid format that is familiar to consumers and beneficial to retailers." READ MORE

SK&A Information Services has released findings from its Physician Office Credit-Card Acceptance Survey - concluding that "33% of U.S. physician offices do not accept credit cards as a form of payment. This represents a 5% increase since last year's survey, and the research suggests doctor offices are limiting this form of payment as a result of their patients being affected by high interest rates, maxed out credit limits and a more challenging ability to qualify for credit." READ MORE

U.S. Bank has launched Healthcare Payment Management (HPM) Essentials, a physician-focused payment tool that enables doctors’ offices to collect more patient self-pay balances – such as co-pays and deductibles – at the time and point of care. READ MORE

TSYS Acquiring Solutions has announced partnership agreements with mPay Gateway and Nova Libra to provide point-of-sale payment solutions that meet the needs of healthcare providers and their patients, as well as pharmacies and drug stores. READ MORE

This morning's Weekend Edition on National Public Radio included a report titled "Dental Credit Cards Drill A Hole In Some Wallets" by Kelley Weiss. The story talks, in particular, about CareCredit - a division of GE Money that offers healthcare financing for consumers through a network of over 100,000 providers.

Preferred Health Technology and Visa have announced an alliance making Visa the preferred payment brand for PHT's A-Claim medical payment solution for physicians, hospitals and other health care providers. The A-Claim system enables health care providers to simply and securely verify insurance eligibility, adjudicate claims, and accept credit, debit or prepaid cards for payment at the time of service, or at a later date once the amount of the patient's responsibility has been determined by his insurer. READ MORE

The Payment Card Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has published a new report titled "New Prospects for Payment Card Application in Health Care" .

From the abstract: "While consumers' use of payment cards has grown rapidly in many other areas, use of these cards in making health-care payments has been far more limited. In this paper, Payment Cards Center Industry Specialist Ann Kjos attempts to explain several reasons for the slow adoption rates and identifies four related trends and developments that can be expected to lead to more rapid growth in the future. While these factors are expected to contribute to the acceleration of growth for payment card applications in health care, we know less about potential barriers stemming from consumer behavior, raising a cautionary note pending further research."

Chase Card Services has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Unicorn Financial Services and is launching an expanded set of patient financing products as ChaseHealthAdvance financing options.

TSYS Healthcare has announced "the successful market launch of the industry’s most advanced benefits payments system. Fringe Benefits Management Company (FBMC), the first third-party administrator to use this innovative solution, offers its subscribers the ability to pay from multiple healthcare tax-advantaged accounts, credit accounts and cash accounts through a single card."

Availity, an e-health information exchange, and TRANSFIRST have announced the general availability of the Availity CareCollect solution for all physicians and health care providers nationwide. According to the two companies, the CareCollect solution is being offered through a partnership with TRANSFIRST, and will provide Availity customers fully integrated payment processing capabilities.

Metavante has announced it plans to acquire BenSoft Incorporated and its product, RepayMe. Metavante will integrate RepayMe into its existing Healthcare Payment Solutions suite of products. According to Metavante, "RepayMe software provides a Web-based tool for individuals who participate in various benefit programs to easily obtain reimbursement for eligible expenses that are covered by their benefit plans."

Chase Paymentech and Preferred Health Technology have announced A-Claim - calling it "the first fully-integrated healthcare payment solution designed to reduce accounts receivables for physicians and simplify claims payments for patients."

In a move designed to enable the company to be "completely focused on expanding its technology leadership position across the financial services landscape," Fiserv has announced a definitive agreement to sell substantially all of its Health businesses to UnitedHealthcare for $775 million in cash.

Highmark has launched the Healthcare Visa Gift Card - saying "the card provides an easy way for consumers and recipients to cover out-of-pocket expenses related to maintaining personal health and wellness."

Metavante has announced the availability of its Healthcare Gateway - calling it "a single online portal through which most eligibility inquiries, claims submissions and status checks, and payments activities can flow and be monitored on-demand electronically."

Metavante has announced results from its Metavante Payment Progress Index program managed by Celent finding that "healthcare industry e-payments will transition from minority to majority status in the next two years, yet much room for process improvement remains as healthcare payers (insurers) and providers eye overall cost reductions."

According to the Smart Card Alliance, "the vigorous take up of contactless payment in the United States and its future in mobile phones, plus a Mount Sinai Medical Center initiative to give patients control of their own health and hospital registration information, highlighted the Alliance's annual conference."

Wachovia has announced expansion of its treasury solutions for the healthcare industry with the addition of PatientPOS, calling it "an innovative solution proven to improve revenue cycle management for healthcare providers."

Payformance Corporation has released the results of a survey showing that healthcare providers want to transition to electronic claim settlement.

Celent has announced a new Healthcare Banking research service and an inaugural report titled "Healthcare Transactions: What’s in the Forecast for Financial Institutions". The report addresses the complexities of healthcare transaction processing as well as the opportunities the market presents to financial institutions.

The Healthcare Solutions business of JPMorgan Chase and RelayHealth, the connectivity services company of McKesson Corporation, have announced a strategic relationship to offer an integrated set of claim and payment processing solutions. The two companies say "this relationship will transform the way that insurers, healthcare providers and consumers interact to settle claim payments, moving to a fully electronic model."

The McKinsey Quarterly has a new article titled "Overhauling the US Health Care Payment System" (registration required). From the abstract: "Over the next five years, rapid innovation may lead to a restructuring of the value chain of health care payments and to a shift in the sector’s balance of power. Financial institutions have an opportunity to take on a more prominent role, while payers risk losing influence to new entrants. Providers stand to benefit as fewer dollars are wasted on transaction-processing inefficiencies."

Aetna has announced it is "working with Medical Funding Services (MFS) to introduce expanded electronic options to simplify billing and reimbursement. MFS will offer its financial services and related electronic payment solutions to network health care providers in select markets. These include an online solution that combines the health plan and patient portions of a medical bill into a single payment to health care providers."

U.S. Bank has announced it has made an equity investment in InstaMed, a real-time gateway and processor of healthcare and payment transactions. The two companies say they have been working together in a strategic partnership for nearly a year, and have already processed tens of millions of dollars on the InstaMed Platform for various hospitals, healthcare providers, billing services, vendors and payers.

Cerner Corp. has announced the launch of combined health plan ID and payment cards that include a fully integrated line of credit for healthcare consumers. Cerner has selected First Data Healthcare Services, part of First Data Corp., and UMB Healthcare Services, a division of UMB Financial Corporation to provide support for the program.

Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report titled "Smart Cards and Healthcare: An Opportunity For Payments".