Remember writing a check at the doctor’s office check out? We have seen payment processing evolve from the good old paper check, to more modern methods over the last decade. Today, medical billing counters allow patients to use credit cards to cover their expenses. Come 2020, the pandemic put people behind the four walls of their houses, hindering them from seeing their doctor, much less sending in a payment for previous debt with a credit card or check.
People’s preference for contactless payments surged, forcing medical businesses such as clinics, hospitals, laboratories, and others to quickly adapt to the new norm. The various facilities changed the billing processes to accept payments via mobile, email invoicing, and an online hosted payment portal on the internet. We needed a plan to help patients pay their medical invoices with cutting-edge processing methods while maintaining stellar customer satisfaction metrics.
Benefits of ACH Payments for Medical Bill Payments
Many medical offices have yet to find a provider that accepts eChecks. If your clients in the medical industry cannot accept ACH payments, they’ll likely fall behind their competitors. Healthcare businesses can leverage the following benefits of ACH technology right away:
They are Economical
You’re probably familiar with processing fees accompanying credit and debit card payments. ACH payments cost significantly less than these payment methods and even paper checks if you factor in the time and labor expenses.
They Offer Protection Against Fraud
Paper check frauds are common because they can be tampered with. When a customer sends a check via email, there are several ways they can be compromised. ACH payments eliminate this risk because they can’t be lost in the mail. They provide a sense of security to your client’s customers.
They Make Recurring Payments Easy
Periodic billing and the costs of processing recurring transactions can affect the bottom line. Moreover, customers sometimes forget to make a payment on time, adding to the merchant’s cash flow perils. Setting up recurring ACH payments can eliminate these issues and save time regularly billing the customers through the medical office’s merchant processing account.
They Are Fast
21st-century businesses can’t run on paper checks that take days to clear. Medical payment processing solutions require ACH capabilities as a quicker alternative to expedite the receipt of funds.
They Save Time and Reduce Errors
Physical checks necessitate frequent trips to the bank. ACH payments do not require bank visits, allowing merchants to spend time on other productive tasks. Additionally, ACH payments are less prone to errors than physical checks. Especially with NACHA’s new rule for WEB debits, the errors will reduce further.
They Are Convenient
Let’s face it—nobody likes walking around with a checkbook or mailing physical checks when they can make the payment with a few clicks. ACH payments are convenient not only for the customers but for merchants as well. Merchants don’t have to visit the bank or fret high about processing times with ACH payments.
If want to leverage the power of ACH payments, take a look at 6 Strategies to Optimize Your ACH and Merchant Services Account.
Why You Should Consider Partnering with iCG
Your client may use a separate provider for IVR and credit card payments and a QuickBooks plugin for email invoicing. Accepting and managing payments via different providers can make the process tedious.
Accept and Manage Multiple Payment Methods
Integration with ICG will enable your clients to accept payments via IVR, credit cards, debit cards, ACH, remote deposit capture, and eChecks—all in one virtual terminal. This saves your clients time and makes management easy by bringing all these payment methods on a single platform.
Reduce PCI Scope
Instead of having a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) for an on-site assessment that costs merchants plenty of person-hours and unexpected dents in the budget, you could let us take care of PCI compliance.
iCG is a Nacha Preferred Partner
Being a Nacha Preferred Partner, iCG always ensures compliance with Nacha regulations. Our commitment to brilliance, extensive industry experience, and 24/7 support make us an ideal partner for ISOs and ISVs.
iCG’s Payments Processing Solutions
Instead of creating in-house payment solutions, ISVs can integrate their product with our API offered as a hosted payment portal or an iFrame. ICG’s suite of payment processing solutions can introduce efficiencies to your clients’ medical payment processing system. Following are the ICG solutions that can synergize with your product and provide your clients with excellent medical payment processing solutions:
Hosted Payment Portals
iCG’s hosted payment portals allows your clients to process ACH and credit card transactions from a secure web-based interface.
Invoice Management System
Request payments directly from iCheckGateway.com. Clients receive a payment link via email and can choose to pay by ACH or a credit card.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
IVR technology allows customers to make ACH and credit card payments using their phones without requiring interaction with a representative.
QuickBooks Plugin
Your clients can now integrate ICG with both QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online. The plugin uses tokenization to support stored payment methods for autopay customer profiles, reducing your client’s PCI scope.
Cash Discount Program
Merchants lose about 2 to 4% of the sales value as credit card processing fees. A cash discount program could incentivize customers to pay cash or by ACH transfer. Customers can avail of this discount through ICG’s payment platforms, including mobile apps and IVR systems.
We Strive to Nurture our ISO and ISV Partnerships
iCG adds value through sophisticated payment solutions, strengthening your sales offerings. Understand as you meet with Healthcare providers and medical software applications, we will not compete with our ISO and ISV partners for merchant processing.
Our sales and support team will continue to provide support until such time that you begin to feel confident about taking over. We pride ourselves on the comprehensive support we provide during the payments processing experience and forward thinking to identify the technical challenges they face during the transition.
You will never have to worry about customer attrition with iCG, and our support and tech teams will ensure to resolve your merchants’ concerns quickly. Become an iCG partner today and provide cutting-edge payment solutions to your clients.
Date Originally Published: September 30, 2021
Date Updated: August 3, 2022