Ways of Digital transformation of payment in healthcare are Evolving

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst in accelerating digitalisation of various sectors during the lockdown, growing patient financial responsibility poses challenges and opportunity for healthcare organisations. Therefore, some of the pragmatic hospitals are looking to digitalise payment due to the coronavirus outbreak in sectors outside of healthcare for ingenuity when it comes to helping patients pay for their services.

Accelerated by demonetisation, digital payments have enabled the healthcare sector in India to go contactless because of the ongoing pandemic. Moreover, faster processing owing to streamlining of manual processes, digital invoices and reducing discrepancies are some key features of digital payments which will drive the healthcare industry's transformation.

Digital Transformation of payment

Digital transformation of payment in healthcare is the integration of and opportunities for digital technology in revenue cycle management processes. Hospital executives are deploying online portals and price estimators to connect with patients and their wallets.

Companies transforming traditional payment systems such as Airbnb and Lyft are creating social change. These companies transformed payment systems by digitalising transaction and storing payment information to allow those transactions took place with a one tap.

Let’s see how digital transformation of payment in healthcare is shaping the industry:

Growth of India’s Online Pharmacies

The lockdown brought a significant thrust to the already booming online pharmacy sector. As restrictions were enforced, over-the-counter purchases saw a massive decline. However, essential medicines had to be purchased for patients with pre-existing medical conditions. These consumers immediately switched to online pharmacies. These pharmacies ensure convenience and offer various value-added services like discounts, rebates and lucrative cashback. Additionally, leading pharmacies like 1mg, Pharmeasy, and Medlife have looked to diversify their businesses with online lab testing, virtual doctor consultations, and insurance claims management services.

Contactless Payment

In a physical clinic, patients visit a front desk to check-in and out. They hand over either a credit card or cash for their co-payment and receive a paper bill in the mail days later. While the risk of COVID-19 transmission via paper is low, the in-clinic payment process increases the time patients must spend close to staff and one another. The paper bill also slows down payment and hence hurts cash flow.

Most clinics are now introducing CNP (card not present) payments, the same type of payments used by eCommerce sites like Amazon. Before or after the visit, the patient can enter credit card information into a digital portal. This information is securely stored in the organisation's database can be accessed by the patient via a link in their invoice for easy payment.

Clinics may choose to accept CNP payment from digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal to make payments even easier. These services store people's credit card information, so there's no requirement for patients to re-enter it into your portal. That increases the odds that patients will pay promptly and feel like the experience was hassle-free.

Enablement of Telemedicine

While telemedicine and virtual consultations existed way before the pandemic, there has been a remarkable increase in the number of portals now. A report by Niti Ayog reveals that all frontline healthcare workers are at a high risk of infection. Therefore, the organisation is pushing for digital consultations during these times. With these virtual platforms, patients, especially ones in rural areas, do not have to visit hospitals in metropolitan cities as their queries can be resolved remotely. Initially, one issue that stopped the growth of telemedicine was digital payments. As most villages did not have power supply and inadequate digital literacy, consultation fee payment was an issue.

With the increased mobile and internet penetration, now patients can easily avail e-consultation and pay seamlessly using their preferred digital options like UPI, wallets, cards etc.